"Talking about papers and stones" by Pep Codó at La Galeria Canals

In Pep Codó's exhibition at La Galeria Canals in Sant Cugat del Vallès, which can be visited from January 3 to March 31, 2023, the sculptor interprets his imagination, fusing it with the surprising form and this symbiosis it makes the miracle of the mystery tangible. He caresses the still blind structure, the textures whisper its secrets in his ear and he already knows in advance the enigma that hides the block of chosen stone. He has studied closely, in the silence of his study, the purpose of shaping his ideas. By knowing the raw material on which he will act, he already has in mind the appearance of the metaphor. The pebbles roll becoming figures singing the hidden enigma inside.

The rock, bleeding its sudden loneliness, reveals its innermost core to whoever frees the form it hides. The murmur of the rock rubs the tools and the author listens attentively to the silent stone, although in his mind, he already draws the exact form dancing in the inner veins, fighting to be released.

The speech of the cold monoliths converges, babbling abstractly, with the craft of the one who gives birth from nothing to a poetic reality of the mute word. It can be a moon disappearing on the horizon, shells hiding the questioner, some uncovered peas, bodies between cracks or large heads talking in the void, these are recognizable profiles. We can figure them out at a glance. Others are more encrypted and hardly apparent to the untrained eye. The trained eye of the sage of the structures that are not there yet, senses them, discovers them, admires them and in the end, gives them the place to develop their immobility, showing off the dripping of the unspoken letters.

Paper is also mute, in this case taking on the meaning of something similar to a humble white sheet drying in the sun, which thanks to its characteristic flexibility, allows the intervention of the artist by printing on it aspects of a more gestural spontaneous than that suggested by the rigidity of other primitive materials. These interventions and procedures mutate the flat expression of the sheet, turning the surfaces into a symphony of ductile malleability, where a morsel of the chimeras of Pep Codó's artistic research appears. Testimony of the trace acquired with the gesture, is this ease of fragmenting patterns of known movements applied to other precious fictions.

The silent materials become accomplices in the recreation of the sculptor's imagination, with their silent presence they stimulate the creative attitude of Codó, who leaves his mark on them, making them synonymous with new meanings.

Twin portions in which the dawn of creative spirit expresses itself, giving them an equal prominence to the elements it recreates. Thus making the deaf muteness of its state an actor with its own voice, thus dignifying inert matter.

The veils of shadows open the way to the hope that from the closed silence of the materials the illusion of a beautiful mirage, born in the hands of Codó, will surely not leave the visitors of the exhibition indifferent, on the contrary , Codó's expression asks the public for an imaginative involvement, not because of a lack in any sense, but for a deeper and broader appreciation of his work that allows us to benefit from what he says, what he suggests, or what let's imagine from the exhibited work, which will always accompany us, why the visual metaphors or the aesthetic synonyms we create will now go on to make up our imagination as well.

The contrasts created by the artist, between the cold and mute material and the warmth of his gesture suggesting innovative equivalences will please the senses, offering a delirium where we will enjoy the proposal.
The exhibited work is rich in highlighting aspects and ignoring others like a complex aesthetic discourse. It is for this very reason that in its contemplation it is necessary to get involved with a spirit clean of prejudices, allowing oneself to be surprised by relationships between unsuspected elements.

A leisurely active, playful and critical look at the work on display gives refreshing new perspectives that will surely make the joy of enjoying it an experience that relieves stormy spirits. A way to drink in the related ideas suggested by his works that will quench the thirsty and a way to see from another point of view already known concepts, but that does not make them any less deserving of a great challenge.

We can ride the aesthetic challenges that Codó proposes to us with the soft temperament characterized by the joy of navigating between stone or paper structures that leave behind wakes that cover us with caresses or palpitate with their questions and dialogue with mute voices that despite their silence, they speak loudly to us.