Natura November - December 2010 | Page 30

sculpture, is something theological or liturgical, oriented to religious feeling, but in a very open manner. In other words it is obvious that nature itself is something that is bigger than a little human bastard. And that this feeling is why you become a sailor, or I became an artisan, in my case, because I know that there is something in nature that overwhelms me more than myself, more than humanity. And I think that sculpture from the very beginning of time has always been something to remind you of that.” And it here that we can start to understand the role of his art and it’s higher purpose. Using the character of longevity and timelessness possible in a material like stone, he has been successful in using the properties of the many different types of stones he has worked to make a very basic almost primitive metaphysical statement. His artisanal, craft like approach to stone cutting sometimes making it smooth and perfect other times allowing it to exhibit its rough and natural properties says a lot about his commitment to the connection between man and nature. He comments “Sculpture has lots to do with tragedy, like Shakespeare or the Bible or like those things that are bigger than stories to become something to do with nature and humanity moving in that nature. And this probably has something to do with god, with the whole, with very big ideas, yes.” The shapes cut into the stone, the patterns of the marble, the significance of simple ma rkings, the qualities of light come together in Corberó’s art in an abstract yet direct way to convey these ideas in a highly symbolic way that refers to human existence. His numerous rough sculptures of shapes of people trapped in their humanity is a basic conundrum of man as a spiritual yet material being. This metaphysical and existential situation is something that occupies Corberó’s thinking. For in his sculpture his desire despite his sometimes pragmatic view of life is to use his art to express some basic facts of the human condition. “There is a friend of mine called Russell Page who was a fantastic landscape gardener, said that the garden was a song of praise, an act of faith and the embodiment of hope. And sculpture is very much the same.” Although still quite active and with a long record of accomplishments, he has exhibited in various countries in Europe in addition to New York and Japan, and has his works in the MOMA in New York, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Corbero is not completely satisfied. He explains, “When you are young you don’t have the time to know how to do what you want to do. And then there are the details of money, knowledge etc. These are details, the problem is time. By the time you have used your time, you have used your time and there is not enough time and people begin to do their best work when there is no more time. Now I am making the sculptures I wish I could do when I was 20. By the time you can do the sculptures that you wanted to do, you are almost dead…Because life is a mafia invention.” KASIM-ARALIK 2010 • NATURA 33