The Valencian Institute of Modern Art Presents Sculptures by Xavier Mascaro

VALENCIA.- The IVAM presents an exhibition of the artist Xavier Mascaró covering the last few years of his work. The exhibition comprises a large-format sculptural installation, a series of drawings and a selection of sculptures combined in two different montages, establishing a suggestive dialogue between the inside and outside of the museum.

Sponsored by Caja Madrid, the exhibition offers the opportunity to see the most representative works of an artist whom Carlos Saura defined as “the iron sculptor”. The exhibition displays his “guardians”, seated figures made from the same mould albeit with different textures and degrees of rusting. Mascaró also presents at the IVAM his typical “boats” and has installed one of his “musicians”, a sculpture of giant proportions, in the lobby to receive the visitors arriving at the museum.

The catalogue of the exhibition contains reproductions of the pieces displayed and texts about the artist by Consuelo Císcar, Rafael Sierra and JF Rodríguez Chaparro, an interview with the artist made by Javier Memba and a chronological biography drawn up by Emma Rodríguez.

Xavier Mascaró is one of the Spanish artists with the greatest international presence today. He was born in Paris in 1965, although his family moved to Spain in 1968. He graduated with a Fine Arts degree from the University of Barcelona in 1988. One year later he created his first bronze works, and in 1995 he began using iron in his sculptures.

In his career, sculpture soon gained the upper hand over painting. Some bronze pieces date from 1989, and four years later, iron appeared on the scene. In 1996 he travelled to New York, where he initiated a fruitful relationship with the Marlborough Gallery. His exhibitions at this gallery’s locales in Madrid and New York were a real launching pad for Xavier Mascaró.

In 1998 he returned to Madrid with the desire to make monumental pieces. In these years, he developed his talent as a scenographer, and designed the scenery for Juan Carlos Pérez de la Fuente’s version of the play Cementerio de Automóviles (Car Cemetery) by Fernando Arrabal for the Centro Dramático Nacional, and for Fernando Arrabal’s Carta de amor (Love Letter), for which he was granted the Public’s Award for the Best Scenery at Palencia Festival. In the year 2004 he went back to New York, and his return coincided with the introduction of new materials like glass, stone and ceramics in his works. Since then he has been living and working between Madrid and New York.

After exhibiting in the Jardin du Palais Royal in Paris in 2008 and recently in Seville, Málaga and Madrid, the IVAM is now displaying Xavier Mascaró’s work, characterised by large-format volumes of iron plate, evoking a wish to dramatise life. A perfectly executed, but apparently unfinished, work, which is altered by the passage of time and the appearance of rust.

Throughout his artistic career, he has held many solo and group exhibitions. Among the countries where he has held solo exhibitions are Spain, France, Argentina, Mexico and the United States.