INTERVIEW WITH: THE PORTUGUESE SCULPTOR CAROLINA SERRANO
Jan 20, 2022
art madrid
Carolina Serrano (Portugal, 1994) lives and works between Cologne and Lisbon.
Serrano's work and research revolves around the temporal dimension of sculpture. The artist's sculptural thinking collapses, recurrently, with the notions of light and shadow; with the ideas of destruction and appearance; and with the duality between interior and exterior and between full and empty space.
Serrano is interested in the concept of the restricted, inaccessible and therefore unknown “place”, and in the uncertainty of the extent of it. In recent years Carolina Serrano has been working almost exclusively with paraffin wax because of its plastic possibilities, as is the reflection of the light, but above all because of the theoretical and conceptual possibilities that this material can originate in the field of the observer's imagination. Serrano is also interested in the idea of a potential spiritual transmutation and transubstantiation of the sculptural object.
What inspires you when you create?
To my work, I’m trying to understand and think about what it is to be a human being, what it is to live in the world inside a body, and also, I’m trying to think about the notions of time and space and opposite ideas.
What are you working on recently?
I recently finished my first solo exhibition in Germany where I live now and in 2022 I’m going to prepare a group exhibition in Germany as well. Also a solo exhibition in Lisbon.
Tell us about your creative process
About my creative process, I normally go to my notebooks where I draw and write some ideas about mental images and sculptures that I see on my mind.
When I have an exhibition or project to work with I go to these notebooks and when the sculpture is ready to be alive (let’s say) I materialise it. Sometimes I do variations of the sculptures while in the studio. And my dreams and ideas are always present throughout my creative process.
You are participating for the first time in the fair, what do you expect from Art Madrid?
What I expect from Art Madrid’22 is that my work can be seen and appreciated. People can find the space and the time to look at my works, because in a fair there are a lot of booths and artworks, so I think that every visitor has to find the moment and create the relationship with the work that they like.
In your work you explore the duality between exterior and interior, full and empty space, and even light and shadow. Where does this interest in exploring and confronting opposites come from?
Opposites are completely connected with the notion of time and suffering, because time it's a human concept. Some, like Saint Augustin the medieval philosopher, believe that the evil of the world comes from the division from the real desire into conflicting desires. So the dispersion of the soul it is a division. Opposites are a great part of what it is to be a human being.
The color black in the history of art has always been related to some divine darkness, together with the spirituality that your works give off and the interest in an unknown and inaccessible “place”, are we in front of a search for your own type of religiosity?
I think art can make us come closer and recognize our most deepest places. So for a few seconds, I say seconds because we cannot count them, time is able to become still. And normally this happens with surprise and astonishment or with the unexpected. So yes, maybe we can reach that almost unknown and inaccessible place that we have inside us. Maybe art can have a type of spirituality and religiosity.
The artist Carolina Serrano participates for the first time in the fair with Galerie Alex Serra, together with the artists Katja Davar, Mário Macilau, René Tavares and Rui Sanches.
