Pablo Serrano

Pablo Serrano (1908-1985) is one of the most outstanding representatives of contemporary Spanish sculpture. Throughout his career, he combined his constant concern for formal and conceptual aspects with a profound reflection on the human condition. A reflective artist, his work is an incessant search for answers about the essence of art and the meaning of existence.

Born in Crivillén (Teruel), he moved to Zaragoza and Barcelona in his youth, although his artistic evolution was defined in Argentina and later in Montevideo, where he began his path towards abstraction. This stage culminated in 1955 with his return to Spain to take part in the ‘III Bienal Hispanoamericana de Arte’, in Barcelona. In 1957 he was a founding member of the El Paso group.

The exhibition presented here offers a journey through his production, with creations from different periods and his most representative series, spanning from the 1950s until his death in 1985. The itinerary begins with transitional pieces, his Toros (Bulls), schematic volumes with refined lines and notable modernity. This is followed by his emblematic Hierros, compositions formed by joining metal sheets, demolition nails and volcanic stones, which he assembles in an attempt to ‘organise chaos’. In the series Quema del objeto (Burning of the Object), which follows, he introduces fire as a decisive element in the creative process.

From this point onwards, his concern focused on the human dimension. With the Bóvedas para el hombre, with which he represented Spain at the XXXI Venice Biennale in 1962, the sculptor reflects his deep commitment to the human being, his existence, his circumstances. These irregular forms, sometimes with traces of brick, are conceived as shelters for a being exposed to the world without protection.

The Vault Men, which he later developed, are anthropomorphic structures that evoke human trunks, dark, opaque surfaces on the outside that contrast with a bright, polished interior. From them derive the Men with Doors, in which he incorporates a small mobile opening that the spectator can manipulate, revealing a luminous vault, a symbol of hope. With the Unidades-yunta, sculptures made up of two complementary pieces which, when joined together, form a single entity, Serrano reflects on the need for interaction and communication.

The expressionist portraits are another constant in his production, figures in which he seeks to capture the essence of the sitter, based on meticulous observation and, in many cases, on a personal relationship with his models.

The exhibition concludes with the Divertimentos con Picasso: la guitarra y el cubismo (‘Amusements with Picasso: The Guitar and Cubism’), produced in his last years and exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in September 1985. These creations revisit the plastic resources of Cubism, taking the guitar as a central motif.