Rómulo Celdrán solo exhibition 'MACRO.ZOOM' at Gagliardi e Domke Gallery

WOrks of Rómulo Celdrán to start NEW season at GAGLIARDI E DOMKE GALLERY in Turin

Turin based gallery Gagliardi e Domke present Spanish artist Rómulo Celdrán with his “Zoom” series at the season opening (24.09 - 25.10 2015). Celdrán creates hyperreal, larger than life paintings of everyday objects, inviting the viewer to rediscover them. 

Under the name of Zoom, a set of paintings take shape which aim to explore the extensive world of objects that interest Rómulo Celdrán for different reasons: be they aesthetic (or anti-aesthetic), plastic, functional or even emotional.  Zoom acts as a camera lens, graduating the scale of measurements with which we perceive what we observe, and breaking down the correspondence between the real size of an object, and the size that we perceive, depending on how far away from it we are. The paintings act as a kind of traditional magnifying glass that draws us closer to the object worthy of observation, even when we keep an appropriate distance in order to view it.  

The concept of Zoom gives the object new dimensions, strengthening its presence and inviting us to explore it, discovering hidden spaces and unnoticed nooks. They place us before a growing world, with the same consequences that we would see as Shrinking Men walking through a reality made up of objects whose unsuitable size renders them functionally useless, existing on a scale that is no longer human.

In the words of Rómulo Celdrán: “I believe there is something magic in the world of scales. There is a kind of emotional memory that invites us to feel the relationship with the Zoom objects as if it were a game.  These objects are, as the rest of the objects I use, deeply related with my daily life (as I guess with lots of ordinary people´s daily life). We could say that they are part of my micro cosmos. Objects I consider especially attractive because of their design, functionality or their aesthetic plasticity.

In the show at Gagliardi e Domke I will exhibit some paintings in which I have, for example, used as a model some tools from my toolbox (a compass, a metal roll, a meter), elements from my studio or my daily life at the kitchen (eggshells, plastic bags, a match, a bottle cap). That´s part of the challenge...How can you put your attention in a simple and “unsophisticated” object to transform it into a work of art while revealing the beauty and honesty I think they have.  I usually take notes about the objects I love. Something as a list, partly mental and partly physical, where I also reflect about the best angle, point of view or ways of showing these objects, as well as the possible technical resources, materials, techniques or difficulties I will have to solve. These lists of objects are always around when a new work is about to be faced. »

The paintings by Rómulo Celdrán will be on display at Gagliardi e Domke until 25th October.

Notes to Editors : 

Rómulo Celdrán will also be exhibiting in a group exhibition at Image Music Text Gallery in London from 4 September to 1 October 2015:  I’MTen is an exhibition and online auction celebrating IMT Gallery’s 10^th year.  The exhibition features original A4 artworks created by artists including Rómulo Celdrán, Yinka Shonibare, Adam Chodzko and O Zhang.