Yearn for the myth
EL COMERCIO
ART CRITIC
By Elida Roman
* ELEGANT FIGURES AND ASTONISHING DETAILS OF INLAID ON WOOD * THE ARTIST RECREATES THROUGH THEM THE SYMBOLS THAT CHASE HER
If something is evident in Margarita Checa’s masterpieces, are the symbols: nudes of tangible sense in her life. What you find in this exhibition is what she has worked at a “symbolic level”, one she has not search for, but encountered: “I believe that once you’ve lived the symbol, it starts being a part of you. There is like a sort of yearn for the myth inside me, and as long as I have kept walking in my life, I have been founding the symbols that suit me. It has been a sort of intuition really, because it does no matter if I dream about them, encounter them or read about them; for me they are signs telling me that I am on the right path: It is not something I am imagining, it is real”, she explains.
And in “The Doors of Perception”, she opens the doors to this world of symbols created by her. And right there, where no one uses to observe, she sees and imagines a series of details – subtle sometimes, overwhelming others – that make the contemplation of the characters of her sculptures a truly adventure of discovery. From the almost imperceptible spiral wood inlaid on the temples or in the extremities of some her characters, to the heartbreaking spine (“the spine of passionate people”, says Margarita), these sculptures do not stop amazing us, and do not stop daring our perception.
Took the center stage, revealing an inner torment that was reflected in both metallic volumes and outstanding drawings, unrivalled today for their rigorous precision
that line has always identified her
Highly stylized with downcast eyes and bald bowed heads, they appear to be frozen in time. Whether children, animals, adults in a row boat, or a baby in a mysterious box, these lovely mythic archetypes evoke loneliness, alienation, and quiet supplication.
beneath the layered surfaces of an increasingly
Each of Margarita Checa’s sculptural images acquires their own individuality and character as the artist loads them with the intimacy and extraordinary skill of her personal craftsmanship and soul searching conception. They become physical statements about the human form and its potential as a vehicle of meaningful investigation into such ideas as femininity.
