Vidéos of the exhibition
View of the exhibition "Mytologies of architecture"
The works of Gustavo Díaz Sosa are characterized by their theatrical and cinematographic character. He creates open, dominant compositions from strokes and lines, such as large stages, dystopian or post-apocalyptic landscapes. This is best seen in his series of works that recall the story of the Tower of Babel: In Huérfanos de Babel the artist shows us a meter-high, stable concrete structure that can only be reached by seemingly unclimbable stairs. On top of it, continuing, towers stretch upwards, branching out further, reaching for the sky. The series is reminiscent of the nine lines in the Old Testament that speak of building a huge tower, the top of which was supposed to reach up to heaven. The people of Babel wanted to build it so that they could be close to God and even equal him in the end. It is also what constitutes the essence of Gustavo Díaz Sosa's works: the desire of man, so small and insignificant in their representation, to be on the level of God and all the effort to achieve this goal, to reach this inexplicable something, outside of being human, outside of our reality of life. Gustavo Díaz Sosa uses an artistic method which corresponds to the principle of dualism. As art historian Dr. Martin Hellmold has noted, this affects three levels: the technical execution in its interplay of object-like painting and narrative drawing, the motifs of the works in which the monumental dominance of architecture is juxtaposed with tiny figures, and the level of contextual references in which the artist situates his works. Here, the diversity of historical, cultural, art and literary references meets the artist's contemporary basic plot. Gustavo Díaz Sosa’s artistic goal is “to describe a lost, anonymous, global, surrendered and desperate society functioning in a system which presumes to exist as a democracy on a global level.” His characters “continue to run towards nowhere looking for doors or exits from the monumental walls that keep them trapped under the burocratic and established rules.” The artist uses architecture in his works like a tool or a symbol of power. “Architecture has always been used to protect man, but also to dominate him”, states Gustavo Díaz Sosa. “Religion, myths, politics have always relied on huge temples in order to confirm man’s fragility when faced to power. My intention is to get the viewer to reflect upon these issues.”
Lisa-Marie Berndt, Art historian
Fernando Suarez Reguera - Aldeas impossibles- Iron and corten steel, H190 x 102 x 322 cm
Both artists work with mythological references. Thus, for the exhibition, they have created works dedicated to one of the most famous stories of Greek mythology: the Trojan War. Standing in the center of the room, Fernando Suarez Reguera’s Troya, a sculpture of corten steel and iron, forms the centerpiece of Mythologies of Architecture. The artists’ works, different in execution yet in perfect harmony with each other, recall the history of the war: Paris, son of the king of Troy, is called upon to judge the beauty of three goddesses of Olympus. For his judgment, he is promised Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world. But because Helen is already married to the king of Sparta, Paris kidnaps her to the city of Troy – and thus triggers the Trojan War between Greeks and Trojans, which lasts for ten years. But it is finally decided not by a fierce battle, but by a ruse of Odysseus. Hidden in a wooden horse, the Greek heroes enter the enemy city and open the gates to their comrades-in-arms at night. The city of Troy is captured and destroyed.
The artists remind us of the mythological story of a destroyed city, but in Destrucción V, Fernando Suarez Reguera addresses the destruction even more directly. The bronze sculpture appears dystopian, only the lower part of the building is still standing, towards the top steel ends rise into the sky, the former windows seem to be bent by heat, and we wait for the moment of the final collapse. Dystopian, timeless in their cruelty, and full of strength in their expressiveness, are also the scenes he creates in the works Gulliver and Escenas Simultáneas. The figures appear like toy soldiers, but the dark coloring of the metals makes them seem more threatening. Fernando Suarez Reguera proves to be a master of sculpture in his architectural depictions: his constructions sometimes exceed the imagination of the viewer. It is not without reason that the title of his most monumental work, which is shown in the exhibition, is Aldeas Imposibles. Using the materials corten steel and iron, he creates a construction more than three meters long, intertwined houses connected by a bridge, and again one is not sure whether we are dealing with the villages of a time long past, or with visions of a future, uncertain, marked by overpopulation, crises, climate catastrophes – wild, uncertain, dystopian. Fernando Suarez Reguera is a master of construction and structure, of playing and balancing between emptiness and volume, and he knows how to push the highly complex metals to their limits.
G U S T A V O D I A Z S O S A &
F E R N A N D O S U A R E Z R E G U E R A
Mythologies of architecture
Fernando Suarez Reguera - Hombre arbol - Bronze and iron, H90 x 67x 70 cm - Gustavo Diaz Sosa - Huerfanos de Babel (2017) mixed techniques on linen canvas, H 130 x 97 cm
Gallery Géraldine Banier is pleased to present a duo exhibition of artists Fernando Suárez Reguera (*1966, Spain) and Gustavo Díaz Sosa (1983, Cuba). Mythologies of Architecture brings together these two artists who come from different disciplines, yet whose works raise similar questions about the realities of our lives. The theme of architecture unites both artists. They take us into a world that springs from their respective imaginations and that, translated into paint, charcoal, and pencils on canvas or as sculptures in bronze, iron, and steel, invites us to reflect. Gustavo Díaz Sosa’s painted lines resemble Fernando Suárez Reguera’s iron rods – a means to position the drawing in the three-dimensional space.
The architecture Fernando Suárez Reguera and Gustavo Díaz Sosa create is not an architecture that we lovingly admire in its beauty and look up to in rapture. Rather, it is a completely fictional architecture, mostly with a strong influence of elements of antiquity, that intimidates us, fascinates us, alienates us, and that takes us into a space of reflection on the meaning of architecture, its limits, possibilities, and further, on our role as human beings within our current global situation.
There are the human figures, which additionally appear as recurring motifs in their works. However, while Gustavo Díaz Sosa‘s depictions do not emphasize the person as an individual, but rather create quick line landscapes where people lose their individuality and seem to be submerged by the imposing architecture, Fernando Suarez Reguera mostly reproduces the archetype of the strong man, who, executed in indestructible materials, can take on the monumentality of architectural constructions. His Hombre Árbol is a cross between the human being and the organic element of the tree. While the sculpture stands with both feet on the ground, a human figure firmly rooted like a tree in the earth, the head merges into a wild web of branches. Fernando Suarez Reguera provides us here with a very symbolic metaphor for the mental contortions of the individual, perhaps also for his longings and dreams, branched, wild, and disordered. As Moises Bazar noted, Fernando Suarez Reguera “possesses an unusual mastery of capturing the rhythm, the gesture, the precise moment to freeze an image in time while studying its dynamic potential. He creates a special man, whose muscles are shaped with metal blades and rods, and therefore is also a hybrid machine, often immersed in suggestive futuristic poses.” Gustavo Díaz Sosa‘s works, however, minimize people. His characters are trapped in huge landscapes, trying to find answers and solutions to the fundamental questions of their existence. These questions of “Who am I?”, “Where do I come from?”, “Where am I going?” form the leitmotif of Gustavo Díaz Sosa’s work.
Gustavo Diaz Sosa - Caminos Divergentes II (2019) , mixed media on linen canvas, H 114 x 146 cm