Xavier Mascaró

XAVIER MASCARÓ (Paris, 1965).
Untitled.
Iron.
Measurements: 100 x 34 x 38 cm.
This work by Xavier Mascaró is part of the artist’s extensive sculptural project dedicated to warriors and guardians—figures he has installed in public spaces in various cities around the world, such as on Madrid’s Paseo del Prado (2010) or in front of the Can Framis Museum in Barcelona (sculptures donated to the city by the Fundació Vila Casas). The sculpture’s surface is key to understanding Mascaró’s intent. Through a patina that simulates rust, the iron takes on the appearance of an archaeological relic, as if it had been salvaged from the ocean floor or unearthed from the ruins of an extinct civilization. Furthermore, the figure rests on a platform raised by irregular supports, which accentuates the work’s archaic and timeless aesthetic
The result is a piece with powerful symbolic significance. Iron, a material associated with war and industry, is transformed into a medium for introspection and remembrance.
Xavier Mascaró is a Spanish sculptor and painter born in Paris of French, Romanian, and Catalan descent. He has lived in Madrid, New York, London, and Mexico City. In 2002, he was awarded a fellowship to attend the Spanish Academy in Rome. He currently lives and works in his studios in Mexico City and Lisbon. He is highly regarded by critics and the public alike, having exhibited at major art venues in cities such as Paris, Caracas, Vienna, Monte Carlo, Cartagena de Indias, Madrid, New York, and London, as well as in Seville—in such renowned venues (including galleries, museums, and public spaces) as the Saatchi Gallery (London), the Palais Royal (Paris), the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna), Almacén 421 (Abu Dhabi), the Marlborough Gallery (New York and Madrid), the Paseo de Recoletos and the Paseo del Prado (Madrid), and the Museo del Templo Mayor and the Centro Cultural de España (Mexico City). In 2014, he held a solo exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London. Mascaró is one of Spain’s contemporary sculptors with the strongest international presence. “Mascaró’s work refers to the human condition through the timeless—to what remains of who we once were, or to what we recognize in our distant past as part of who we are today. His artistic project formally transports us to the past, yet offers a multiplicity of interpretations that confront us with the present,” as described by the Wurt Museum, which recently dedicated an exhibition to the artist.