Ode to the sea
Here on the island
The sea
And what a sea It rises up Very often.
Pablo Neruda “Elemental Odes”
Alexis Leyva Machado. “I am a walking island, just like every other
isolated thing”. 37 years have gone by, coming and going, around the
sea, boats and beaches, collecting discarded objects that have run
aground like ships, after being enticed into the sea and then carved
and shaped by the sea’s never ending rhythm. “My works went into
the sea and grew there. You can look at my first works and see that
they had nothing to do with the sea. At that time my work and my
personality were mainly focused on understanding my culture; the
most important thing is that my culture is a mirror for everybody.”
In his three dimensional works we always observe something that is
midway between the totalizing dogmas of the modernist sculpture
on the one hand and post modern decentralization on the other;
behind the combination of elements exists the will to create large,
monolithic areas and volumes; in other words, with an inevitable
spatial continuity. All his works, drawings and installations have what
he defines as energy from a past life: “I’m basically a sculptor and
in my work I use things that don’t belong to me, which have already been in use before becoming a work of art, owned by somebody
that wasn’t me. I use this energy from its previous life to create a
story. For example, the garbage that we see every day, objects that
are thrown away, begin to exhibit energy and being able to use them
has been fundamental to my work.”
Kcho does not repeat himself, even though his leitmotiv is the sea.
His works vary according to the space that is available to him. He
lays them out with large scale drawings on paper or fabric. In most
cases, the sculpture-installation is the focal point of the exhibit. “In my
head a small sheet of paper becomes a studio. I adapt things, and
I can create an installation for a museum exhibition hall of hundreds
of square feet, on just a paper napkin.” In his works, the expressive
burden of the lines of the objects demonstrate and reinforce concepts
such as memory, travel or exile.
He uses grey pencil and blood red as if they were words used in
the sentences of a speech, describing austere atmospheres; he
constructs fragile worlds of fabric which seem to dance over a
space without sea. He isn’t scared of taking risks, the lines of his
work conform to his thoughts with unerring certainty, his thoughts
combine with the objects that he finds, pieces of wood or talismans
assembled with their own stories or the stories of others. “As far as
I am concerned the smallest drawing is not just a design, but is a
work of art in its own right, which has its own energy because it is a
living thing … Everything that I do is an extension of my hand. I draw
alot because I love the intensity”. Kcho treasures his notebooks full
of designs, ideas and drafts; the designs and construction of his
works spring from his own obsession for drawing and the extensive
collection of objects which have become worn through use and
are full of memories; he likes to incorporate this history and his own
memories into everyday objects; his works refer back to concepts
imprinted in his own mind; from there he follows guidelines, systems
of symbols and other mental processes which enthusiastically turn
into bold strokes. “For me, drawing is the axis of art and of who I
am. Drawing is the ultimate expression of creation, of art and ideas,
and represents my only hope for the world”.
Kcho has the capacity to surprise us, just like when we look through
a ship’s port hole; the view of this artist, ironic while at the same time
incisive, can sometimes be disconcerting when we see his enormous
drawings or his uniquely individual sculptures. The most remarkable
aspect of his work is its amazing ability to make a bold statement when the region’s most local and specific existential problem is
unmasked; without losing the expressive talent characteristic of
the great artists, capable of involving everybody in the disclosure of
the dramas and anxieties which have always bedeviled the human
race.
At the end of the day, movement from one place to another and“exodus” are almost genetically inseparable conditions in the course
of human life. This proposition is driven by a few flimsy truths which
tell their own stories through penetrating comments on every day
social and political life in the countries of Latin America. “Developing
a message that embraces the whole planet enables it to escape the
island, to be transmitted to other continents where running away
and hiding is an every day experience. In his works, the spaces in
Kcho’s mind are reflected, built of fragments abandoned by other
people”, says Zuleiva Vivas.
Kcho invites us to set sail on the ocean of his memory and takes us
on a voyage that not even Hemingway would have believed possible,
allowing us to go ashore on the sands of other people’s memories,
open to the world from a different, three dimensional and somewhat
salty, perspective.
Bibliography
1. Kcho, “Soy una isla andante [I am a walking island]”.
Interview by Esso Álvarez. Últimas Noticias, page 74. Caracas,
2004.
2. Kcho: un trozo de algo [a piece of something], by Franklyn
Fernández Revista Agulha, culture magazine n.º 49. Fortaleza,
São Paulo, January, 2006.
3. Kcho, “Kzando a Kcho”. Interview by Mario Jorge Muñoz.
Cuba, 2004.
4. Zuleiva Vivas in “El juego del asombro” [the game of
surprises]. Write up from Kcho’s exhibition catalogue in the
Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas.
5. Kcho, “Arte latinoamericano [Latin American Art: Alexis
Leyva Machado”. Obraporobra.com. Internet, 2001. |
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