The emotional structures of Rafa de Corral. Salva Torres.

 

What emptiness is Rafa de Corral referring to when he alludes to it in one of the four unpublished pieces he is exhibiting at the Alba Cabrera gallery? To answer this question, undoubtedly crucial in his work, it is necessary to let go of the certainty with which we usually navigate. Because in doing so, we discover precisely the place to which artists (and Rafa de Corral is one to a high degree) summon us. A place that is none other than the alluded void, around which creators are constantly shaping forms that make the anguish of those who dare to live near chaos bearable.

 

Estructura ambigua / mixta sobre tabla /  80 x 180 cm / 2015

 

That's why Rafa de Corral combines heavy structures in his work that sometimes appear to float and at other times move away from their solid condition to evoke tumultuous moods. Firmness and fragility engage in a dialogue in his work, showing the tension of life in various forms. It all begins like this: "I have sensations, I see shapes and colors, and I draw them," says the artist. It could be said that from the dark depths, the same ones that in childhood on some nights caused the anguish from which the void draws its sustenance, these shapes and colors emerge, through inspiration and a lot of perspiration, allowing the fullness of meaning to be reached.

Rafa de Corral confesses that sometimes he spends more than eight hours in a row trying to tame these structures that seem like figures. His abstraction has its feet on the ground, even though he feels himself drifting further away from the reference. "Geometric abstraction impresses me a lot," he comments. That feeling of losing one's footing, of completely detaching from reality, until falling into that persistent void in his work. Not only because one of his recent pieces evokes it ("Persistence of the Void"), but because it's his way of working.

The void in Rafa de Corral's work is sensed in those "structures with life inside," in the artist's own words, which undoubtedly serve as a guide for his work. Structures and shapes that, without contorting themselves because the line never loses its composure, emanate boundless energy. As if these architectural, heavy, and firm forms were losing their firmness right in the middle of nothingness. As if the organic nature of the background maintained a pulse with these forms on the brink of collapsing, despite their energy, their majestic presence.

"I see it as moods, always under the sign of duality, between an organic part and a structural part; both parts in a constant struggle." Rafa de Corral says he works with many preliminary sketches, as if he himself were struggling to contain the void. That is, to fill it with content that cushions the anguish of the magma-like background, and literally contain it with forms that match the light facilitated by working with colors. "I work in layers: from dark to light," he says. And he adds, "I work with acrylic, but the plasticity comes from the oil."

Through a "theatrical light that generates unease," Rafa de Corral creates those emotional structures that run through his work towards an increasingly refined reality. As if that persistent void ("the titles in my work are clues, parts of the painting") forced him to refine his proposal in order to embrace it better. To recognize himself worthy of the truth that this void holds. Because the void that Rafa de Corral insists on approaching is, more than a synonym for anguish, the ultimate possibility of facing it without fear of getting lost.

Salva Torres. Interview for MAKMA Cultural Magazine.