IN / OUT. Sales Prats
After a period of creative hiatus immersed in mourning, where a parenthesis of introspection focused on disappearance and memory; and almost unconsciously, like a casual drift, the structures capture him, and he is entrapped, unable to stop…
Inevitably, Inside emerges.
A total of about twenty works, which not only present us with a reflection of the pictorial language but also suggest how and what Rafa de Corral thinks through their titles. It offers a set of associations and thoughts, an intimate and reflective reading within pictorial research that abandons color and focuses on light with black and white contrasts suggesting geometric interpretations that incite further contemplation. The viewer becomes absorbed, immersed in the representation.
Some delicate textures on wood with graphite reveal sensitive qualities, and the whites allow light to pass through with a spectacular poetic craftsmanship. Geometry as a metaphor for the pictorial language penetrates volumes and spaces, and we observe the essence, the synthesis, the most important.
But Inside is already in transition; stories pass, and he continues to investigate and advance from a work that is produced with light and darkness, both sensually and in knowledge and thought.
In/Out is now still an extension of Inside, but it gradually begins its journey. If we observe 'Solid Trust,' 'Harmony and Calm,' or 'Equitable Thought,' although they have similar structures that continue the previous narrative, the geometric language clearly indicates the strength, wisdom, and balance of recovery.
The starkness of black and white in works like 'Spatial Incision' and 'Losing Perspective' tends to disappear, revealing plays of light and perspectives.
He also surprises us with works created with graphite on wood, where dark backgrounds vanish, and figures regain movement, accompanied by dynamic lines made with photo-luminiscent paint. All of this under the premise of inside/outside; in these works, the viewer does not seem to need a subjective interpretation within the structures.
In the face of uncertainty about the subsequent evolution of these two series, I clearly sense that the work is growing and proposes the ongoing creative process, where Rafa de Corral's rich background calls us once again to new forms of expression.
Sales Prats Gràcia
Exhibition Curator