Interview for El Mundo newspaper.
'Inside' refers to that reflection "on the passage of time, life, and death."
"It has been a process of being with myself; something very special, very intimate." So intimate that it has led Rafa de Corral to dive into the deepest layers of his own volumetric structures, delving into them as if trying to extract the soul they hold. "It's like a parenthesis in my work; I still don't know what I'm going to do next." A parenthesis in which the Bilbao-born artist, now based in Valencia, has allowed himself to be soaked in the loss of a loved one, showing in the twenty pieces that make up the exhibition 'Inside' the reality of the human experience.
The Sporting Club de Russafa is hosting this intense inner drama until the end of the month. And it does so through a carefully curated exhibition in which De Corral, beyond his technical skill, combines different works to reflect his mood, as wounded as he is focused on cauterizing that wound through a passionate creative impulse. "These works came out very quickly, like a burst of emotion." And what the artist is expelling is a torrent of feelings, filtered through black and white, alluding to a certain inner X-ray.
"I wanted to use graphite because of the power it possesses." It's not clear whether it's the graphite or the artist himself, but in any case, it's a force with a capital F. The strength that pain gives when it needs to find a fruitful outlet instead of festering within. Rafa de Corral, driven by that mentioned force, is bricking up the walls destroyed by the devastating death, showing in the Sporting a kind of Wagnerian musical score made of hollows through which life-giving light filters.
"These are openings from within the figure." Because De Corral, although close to geometric abstraction, never quite detaches himself from figuration. "Geometric abstraction is very rigorous, very strict," he says. And figuration is the anchor that allows him to position himself in a world that embraces him more, pushing him further into that inner space he explores in his exhibition. 'Inside' is just that: delving into his own volumetric landscape, aware that the core of an existence still wounded lies within.
That's why he talks about self-deception in 'Telaraña,' one of the pieces in the exhibition, as the most painful question, the one that leads him to "question things, including self-deception, because you might not get out of that tangle." By touching on the reality of existence, which appears as a painful hole resulting from a recent death, Rafa de Corral feels that the essence of things is often forgotten: "We are preoccupied with superficial matters." Matters he takes care of in his exhibition in reverse: emphasizing what truly matters; life in its purest form.
"It has been like a total liberation. I've been able to bring out what I carry inside." And since he carries a certain burden within, he has chosen to place himself inside his own structures to observe what happens within. "Faced with the prospect of death, you question the passage of time." A time made up of moments highlighted by graphite as scrapings and through a light that struggles to illuminate the dark background. "There's a struggle between the projection of light and the object itself. Also the other way around: you are inside the object, and the light penetrates it."
'Inside,' an exhibition curated by Alba Fluixà, who precisely refers to that reflection "on the passage of time, life, and death" in Rafa de Corral's exhibition, is an apt title to reveal this state of mind. "I was going to title it 'Introspection,' but it seemed a bit cliché, even though it referred to that process of meditation and internal dialogue." 'Inside' felt more fitting, as it evoked "being inside the structures." Not just mentally but physically, in body and soul.
Except for one acrylic piece titled 'Inside, outside,' all the other works are drawings on wood panels that the artist has prepared with a silky white primer. "I started with these with fluorescent spray light." And then, "I don't know why," he left graphite alone, perhaps wanting to express the true state of the soul with the most stripped-down black and white. "I got emotional when I saw the result," he says as he put the finishing touches on the exhibition, which opened last Friday. A collection of "silences and doubts" that the most intimate Rafa de Corral reveals without reservation. 'Inside,' because so much truly happens in there.
Salva Torres (El Mundo).