Ana Prada (Zamora, 1965) leads us down the path which contemporary Spanish sculpture takes. In her work, manual labour is a process which constitutes a poetic act that transforms objects and materials extracted from everyday life (curlers, hair clips, baby bottle nipples, nylon stockings or plastic knives). In the words of teacher and art critic Estrella de Diego, these elements are "entities that expand with the appearance of objects, where things are instruments at the service of mechanics, of progression". The fourteen pieces in this exhibition are for projects designed in the past six years and illustrate the phenomenon of the poeticisation of objects, like in Gusano geométrico (1994), 20 costuras (1994) o Trenza azul (1994).
Estrella de Diego said that the artist uses "poor and seemingly banal, but symbolic materials to display the feminine universe," with which she composes new forms based on repetition and which create new meanings. From unorthodox and surprising associations (such as clay and a wooden spoon or nails and plastic straws) Prada creates a new order fraught with irony, which generates a very personal poetry. In her pieces, the simplicity of appearance contrasts with the complexity of newly created meanings.
The pieces are both sculptural devices and three-dimensional poetical projects. In most cases they are integrated directly into the wall, eliminating the notion of support or frame giving the exhibition space a sense of spontaneous occupation.
By its very genesis, the artist's work triggers a series of dichotomies derived from the exploration and subversion of the traditional principles of sculpture: figure/depth, object/space and fragility/consistency. Its construction process is based on appropriation and redefinition, causing aesthetic and symbolic tensions.
In Ana Prada’s case, the creative act involves in turn, a destruction of what has been produced, due to the will of the temporality of its parts and the ephemeral nature of some of the materials used. For this reason, part of the pieces shown in this exhibition at the Museo Reina Sofía, will be destroyed after its closure.
Exhibition´s details
Museo Reina Sofía Publications
