Propellers and submarines
When I started living at my place, I did so with a sofa, a bed and, of course, a TV. The first thing that came after that was a picture by the Catalan artist Josep Riera i Aragó.
Our desire for his canvas surpassed -by far- the need for chairs to sit when having dinner or even a dining table. I guess that’s when our story with art (and I say “our” because mine started years ago, visiting the galleries of the Gothic quarter of Barcelona with my father).
Josep’s interest in seabeds and skies became a reality in his first sculptures of bronze aircrafts, flying airships and submarines, on iron and wood with lead or zinc reliefs. Talking about Riera i Aragó means talking about propellers and submarines in the most charismatic canvases and surprisingly genuine sculptures, whose large-format dimensions are my favorite.
His work has travelled around the world, and I hope to do so with it someday. You don’t always have the chance to meet such a prodigious mind in flesh and blood, who does not believe his own magnanimity. I guess that’s what makes Riera i Aragó truly “great”.
Photos: Sara Riera / Estudio Riera i Aragó.
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