Carmen Calvo

(Valencia, 1950)

Serie Escrituras

1983

terracotta and acrylic on paper

112.8 x 77.2 cm

Inv. no. 841

BBVA Collection Spain



In many cultures, writing and drawing have been closely interrelated activities, in that the quest for skill and elegance of line sometimes becomes art. But in this case the artist seems to be alluding to a more archaic form of writing, connected with clay, which she uses to give shape to a series of works in which letters become objects.

Carmen Calvo’s “writings” began in 1980, initially in small formats in which she used
and watercolour to create illegible characters. Later she introduced little blobs of clay, which she fixed to the support with wire or thread. In this case the pieces of clay are stuck over their own flat shadows which the artist has drawn on the paper and are scattered randomly over a space they share with other pictorial signs in bright, luminous colours.

The chromatically varied signs which appear in this series — spirals, circles, triangles — recall Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), to whom Calvo has paid tribute on several occasions, as well as to Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890), Paul Klee (1879-1940) and Joan Miró (1893-1983).

Her passion for archaeology and collecting, and for the craft tradition she got to know in her native city, are clearly evident here.