Miguel Berrocal

MIGUEL ORTIZ BERROCAL (Villanueva de Algaidas, Málaga, 1933 - Antequera, Málaga, 2006)
"The mini-caryatid", 1968/69.
Chromed metal, copy 2741/9500.
Signed and numbered.
Attached instruction book.
Measurements: 13 x 6,8 x 3,3 cm; 15,5 x 6 x 6 x 6 cm (with stand).

"The mini-caryatid" is a magnificent example of Berrocal's serial detachable sculptures, in which the artist unites classicism, engineering and intellectual play.

Made of chromed metal, the piece presents a stylized and fragmented female body, constructed from multiple curved planes assembled with millimetric precision. The figure alludes directly to the classical caryatid, a feminine architectural support of antiquity, but here stripped of its head and reinterpreted from a contemporary, mechanical and abstract language. The absence of anecdotal features reinforces its timeless and conceptual character.

The instruction book is an essential part of the work, underlining the idea of sculpture as an active, manipulable object that invites the viewer to understand the form from within. The process of assembly and disassembly turns contemplation into a cognitive and playful experience.

Berrocal has exhibited in Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the United States, received the gold medal of the Bronze of Padua, the grand prize of honor at the Biennial of Brazil, and was named Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government. He has sculptures in public places in Korea, Bordeaux, Denmark and Switzerland, as well as in various parts of Spain. He is represented in the Museums of Modern Art in New York and Paris, the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, the Kunsthalle in Hamburg, the Juan March Foundation in Madrid, the National Gallery in Rome and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.