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VASTU.
JOSÉ NOGUERO.
January
28-March
27
Architecture
as a habitable, flexible environment is the principal
theme of Vâstu. Iron, tin, aluminium and
gesso among other materials have been chosen by
José Noguero (born Barbastro, Huesca, 1969)
to recreate his experience in India. The
artist lived in Srinigar, the summer capital of
the state of Kashmir, in a region marked by the
flow of the river Jelhum. There, Noguero was fascinated
by the houses built by the local people: "simple
spaces which captivated me, exquisitely made in
the materials which they have to hand, mixtures
of mud, bricks, stones and corrugated iron".
Through
these works, the artist investigates the concept
of authenticity and the true meaning of essential.
The title of the exhibition - Vâstu - refers to
this. The word comes from Sanskrit and has various
meanings, among them an allusion to the real,
the true. Noguero constructs a discourse around
this concept in which he aims to define the essence
of the elemental, expressed through the notion
of habitability and the house as organic space.
Ways
of Life
Particularly
noteworthy in the exhibition are Morada (Dwelling,
2004) and Das Heim (Dwelling, 2004), depicting
two houses on pillars, as well as Vastu (2004),
a sort of house-boat of the type used in this
region. Such works express the strength of the
link between this region and a river which could
be seen to symbolise the transience of life. These
two types of constructions, which are particularly
striking for their fragility, could be seen as
two contrasting modes of looking at life, as Fernando
Huici explains in the catalogue: ³the person who
allows himself to be swept along by the current;
the other, aware of this unstoppable flow, aware
that everything comes to pass, but in its right
place, implacable, like the song that refers to
³watching life pass³. The exhibition is completed
by two photographs mounted on aluminium inspired
by Noguero¹s stay in India, as well as two sculptural
groups which are reflections on the relationship
of people and their environment, their hopes and
fears.
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