One morning walking along the sea I began to perceive that the sounds were marking my sensations, I decided to close my eyes and continue walking, after a few minutes I was totally soaked: I had lost my sense of orientation, I had deviated, lost. This experience made me reflect on the reference points that allow us to move, physically and emotionally. The sculpture “Opening of the light” is a physical experience in this sense. The entire structure revolves around the upper opening of the form. A prodigious mouth that opens, but only from a certain angle, from the others it is simply an element that folds, creates the perception of curvature as if a series of arches were playing. A little twist, a little change in our reference point, and the sculpture are totally different.
The sensation of open volume, of movement, in the rigid, yet the harmonious form of the arches, suggests to us over and over again: Where am I? What is the reality of the form, of the emotion, of the feeling that it generates in me? “Opening of the Light” is a work that develops both inside and outside of us, the changing world of light addresses lines and voids that escape the control of the sculptor, his own concept and it is, at that moment, that he discovers than he is only a sorcerer’s apprentice. The sculpture is always a universe that requires time and space to be able to learn, discover, or enjoy it. This work requires it so.
The warm afternoon pointed to a sleepy sensation, a rosy, tight slumber; in that sensation, my hands sought to feel, to touch a piece of life. My steps led me to a beautiful 13th-century house in the millenary Córdoba. The courtyard was small, intimate, variegated with plants and life. In the background, a large room led me by the hand towards an unknown emotion. By slowly turning my eyes to the left I discovered what my yearning heart was searching for. On the wall, in broadly drawn planes, drawn like a knife, there were some lines of calligraphy, they were Persian. The shock that I felt in my entire being made me stagger, to seek a refuge where I could sit, where I could absorb all the life, energy, and loving sensation that I was absorbing. Weeks later, the manifestation of the entire Cordoba experience erupted in an unstoppable way. A new series of sculptures, a new family of creatures in steel has just been born. “Dynamic Balance 3” is one of these works.
The space that is prolonged seeks to touch the sky through its infinite fingers, the emptiness that is impregnated with tenderness, the movement that touches each curve. Discovering the life, the calm, the serenity that cold metal can transmit has led me to this sculpture. An arboreal vertical space fills the vertical form that balances it. A dance of invisible limbs that makes … life possible.
Teo San José
Exhibition / Publications / Awards: INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITIONS (Summary) 2017 Frax Foundation. Alicante. Spain 2008 Spanish Embassy. London. U.K. 2007 “Sculpture Forecourt”. R.B.S.of Sculptors, London. U.K. 2006 Gallery AVIMA, Alicante, Spain. 2004 Bank “Volksbank”, Hannover, Germany 2004 Burgwedel Town Hall, Hannover, Germany 2002 Espace Saint Louis Center, Cholet, France 2000 Center “Art L’Estacio”, Alicante, Spain 1997 Gallery “Exit”. Geneva, Switzerland 1997 Gallery “Aparte”, Lausanne, Switzerland 1994 Spanish Consulate, Geneva, Switzerland JOINED EXHIBITIONS (Summary) 2012 Paralax. N.Y. EEUU. 2011 Exhibition Grove. London. U.K. 2010 Gallery Manuel Chacón, México. 2009 Sculpture Park. North Yorkshire. U.K 2009 Art Contat. Cambridge. U.K 2008 Sculpture In Paradise. Chichester’s Cathedral, U.K. 2006 Royal Academy Of Arts. Summer Exhibition. London.U.K 2006 Salon de Printemps. Romorantin. France. 2005 Affordable Art Fair. London. U. K. 2005 Salon Européen D’Art Contemporain. Chouzy-Sur- Cisse. France 2020 2002 Elected by The International Jury to represent Spain at “The Paris International Contemporary Art”. Paris, France. 2001 Represented Spain at the Florence, Italy’s International Contemporary Art Biennale. Italy. AWARDS 2014 Symposium International Sculpture of Cyprus. 2009 Honorable Award. Art Now. “Artoteque” in London.U.K 2007 “Sculpture Forecourt” by the Royal British Society of Sculptors London. U.K. 1991 5th. “Concurso Nacional de Diseño” by the Industry Department, Madrid, Spain
Biography: Teo San José, (Valladolid 1958) currently develops his artistic activity between the cities of Córdoba and Denia. He studied Engineering at the Universities of Valladolid and Madrid. He began his artistic development carrying out sculptural projects linked to the popular architecture, as well as developing different sculpture workshops, ceramics, and artistic applications of mechanical engineering. He is related to official and self-founded programs of art and education in Spain and Mexico. His vision of art considers the subtlety of language and the synthesis of meanings as essential characteristics for an energetic and peaceful expression at the same time. Teo San José ́s work is present in public and private collections in countries such as Spain, France, Mexico, China, or England.
Artist statement: My sculptural work is developed from the desire to create spaces for dialogue. For me, it is necessary to work from the dialogue as a form to achieve an expression of serenity. The public and monumental work that I carry out has a strong intention to intervene in people ́s daily lives. In my case, the sculptures do not wait in the standard exhibition spaces, on the contrary, they are the ones that go out to meet their own place and its spectators. The sculpture of a great dimension allows transcending the human scale, picking up the notion of “symbol” and stimulating a physical relationship with the viewer. The viewer surrounds the work, crosses it, raises and lowes the head or moves away from it. If the reference point is variable, so is the work itself. This transformation without change is one of the fundamental balances that I seek in my projects. Tension as a balance between concepts is present in all aspects of the work. The use of steel as a material exposes a weight, a solidity. The fact of curving and stylizing its forms provides a condition of lightness. It is this relationship between elements that interests me. From a language far from representation, I look for a synthesis in the meanings. That expression and contentment shake hands.