Samuel Salcedo

SAMUEL SALCEDO (Barcelona, 1975).
"Barrel", 2009.
Wood and polychrome resin. Unique piece.
Certificate of authenticity attached.
Signed and dated on the back.
Measurements: 120 x 60 x 55 cm.
The sculptor Samuel Salcedo develops a work of grotesque and ironic characters, through which the artist reflects on his own identity. In spite of adopting different techniques in his artistic work, he defines himself as a sculptor, following his own words: "The plastic artist sounds a bit bombastic to me. Although for a long time I exhibited only painting, my food work and my social security epigraph was sculptor. Now I keep saying it because, sometimes, the designation of plastic artist puts you in a context in which many people do not know how to place you, especially people outside the art world." His work is characterized by portraying the human being from a point of view in which his emotions are magnified, and even ridiculed. Through a completely contemporary aesthetic Samuel Salcedo presents the reactions produced by different states of mind. Exploring the field of humor he alludes to "I have been developing it because I understood that it helps to attenuate a certain aggressiveness in my work and to place it in the context I feel it has to be in. There can't be only aggressiveness, there can't be, there has to be both, and this is precisely what is disconcerting".
He trained at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Barcelona and Manchester Metropolitan University, and in 1998 he made his solo debut at the Rose Sélavy gallery in Barcelona. Since then he has held solo shows in various Spanish capitals, as well as in Paris (Fréderic Got, 2008), Cologne (100Kubik, 2011), Berlin (3Punts, 2012) and Hannover (Robert Drees, 2012). Among the most recent ones it is worth mentioning "House of Mirrors", held at 3Punts gallery in Barcelona in 2013. Likewise, since the year of his debut he has taken part in group exhibitions held mainly in Barcelona, but also in Granada, Murcia, Madrid, Banyoles, Vigo, Berlin, Lisbon, Strasbourg, Andorra, Lille, Perpignan and other cities. He has also participated in several fairs, including Artexpo in 2001 (Barcelona), Estampa in 2009 (Madrid), Art Madrid in 2010-2013, Hot Fair Basel in 2010, Art Miami in 2010, Scope Art Show New York in 2011, Art Chicago in 2011, Art Fair Cologne in 2011 and 2013, Just Mad in Madrid in 2012 and Art Karlsruhe in Germany in 2013. He is currently represented in the Testimoni collection of La Caixa, the Fran Daurel, DKV and Vila-Casas Foundations, the City Council of Ceutí (Murcia), the Benito Artis collection (Manlleu), the Museum of International Contemporary Figurative Sculpture and the Bassat collection.