Ángeles Marco

Elevador (Lift), from the series Salto al vacío

(Jump Into the Void), 1991

In contemporary sculpture, materials not only establish a conceptual interpretation of the works – insofar as imposing codes to be used to analyse the works within a line of historical continuity – but emotionally embrace the poetry existing within their forms. This duality is decisive in some cases in which the form and the material producing it are inseparable, as they confirm the existence of the former with the manifest logic of the latter. The incorporation of materials such as steel, iron, rubber, latex, glass, etc. that are characteristic of contemporary architecture and certain industrial applications challenges us to accept elements of a psychological, emotional or relational nature as metaphors or even allegories of themselves, no matter how remote such associations may seem in some cases. While the use of marble in classic sculpture is a legacy that has more to do with the durability of an ephemeral posture than the coldness of the material, sculpting practices of the last 100 years – at least since Duchamp’s readymades – have established a relationship among material, form and function of greater depth and interpretation. The history of art is also that of evolution in the complexity of its sign-related references, like an inevitable reflection in advanced societies.

A large part of the works of Ángeles Marco (Valencia, Spain, 1947–2008) forms a solid yet precarious balance among the resistance of materials; the fragility of the body that covers, transforms or opposes them; and the logic deriving from this unstoppable tension, reflected by the titles of some series. En tránsito (In Transit), Salto al vacío (Jump Into the Void), Autopista (Motorway), Compactos (Compact), Escalera (Stairs), Escalera mecánica (Escalator), Puente (Bridge), Péndulo del mundo (Pendulum of the World), and others are examples of titles in which references emerge from architectural features defined as the construct of a solid world that transforms the natural into culture. The resulting cultural product produces discomfort that disappears, nonetheless, with the assumption of a world that will never be complacent. The use of the materials also seems to make a case for distancing them from their essential functions, but also a total affinity with the sensation that it generates in the observer of the pieces and the installations which, in contemporary sculpture, constitutes a new and complete functionality. In works such as Obertura (Overture), Memoria del tránsito (Memory of Transit), Camuflaje (Camouflage), Pasadizo de pared (Wall Corridor) or Envés (Underside), all completed between 1988 and 1989, black rubber, grey or olive drab fabrics and iron achieve results with significant capacity of communication, although the message of each tries to erect barriers and generate discontinuities between the expression of the materials and the gaze and body of the observer. They are works that deny coldness because they are too hard to do otherwise. The innate difficulty of hardness triumphs over the contempt that represents their unattainable coldness.

Elevador (Lift) is a sculpture to be shown in a public space; specifically on the upper part of a building, between the rooftop and a façade. It is made of steel and simulates the structure of a lift, including the cabin, the doors and the upper mechanism. However, the piece does not move, and it is not meant to travel up and down. The dysfunctional nature of the machine only strengthens the sculptural power of the work, which assumes its static nature as just another part of the architecture of its setting. On a building in Biel, Switzerland, where it was shown in 1991, the relationship between materials and forms is evident, as the work is practically a part of the building. Looking beyond the relationship between its form and function, of note is its volatile aspect; subtle for its size and weight, hiding all of its rear structure from the view of the public.
In addition to being an artist, Ángeles Marco was an acclaimed sculptor who understood that, within an increasingly globalised and plural society, contemporary artistic practice had to be hybrid and contaminate itself with different languages. She used photography and text, she explored performances and she drew with the same intention with which she resolved her installations, which only seemed to suggest the search for the self and for the implicit difficulty of feeling that we are finally alone before the world. A vertigo that she knew how to reflect with solid materials and exquisite precision.

References

Círculo íntimo: el mundo de Pepe Espaliú (Inner Circle: Pepe Espaliú’s World), IVAM Centre Julio González, Valencia, 1998.

Román de la Calle, Memorias y diálogos de taller: la trayectoria escultórica de Ángeles Marco (1947–2008), Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, 2013.

Vértigo, IVAM Centre Julio González, Valencia, 2019.

Á. de los Ángeles, 50 Obras maestras 1950-2000, IVAM, València, 2020, p. 60.