Martín Lagares
La Palma del Condado is halfway between Huelva and Seville. It almost smells like Doñana. There is a workshop there where clay, terracotta, resin, and bronze are modeled... those primitive materials whose manufacture creates tension and force in expressiveness like no other.
The material is touched here, whispered, made, unmade, and reshaped. The rough is removed to reveal the soul. Synergies are created between the unfinished and the harmonious, between the proportionate and the irregular. Therein lies the very beauty of this language of embracing clay.
It is a craft of the heart more than of reason, and in these lines, the instinctive artist Martín Lagares, the soul of this creative flow full of struggles between form and expressiveness, tells us more about his life and work:
Hello Martín. Have you always had a clear vocation for sculpture?
My vocation for sculpture arose unexpectedly at the age of 14 when I first had a piece of clay in my hands. There was no artistic tradition in my family and my environment, but that encounter was a revealing event that marked me forever.
What do the words Cuenca or Pablo Serrano mean to you?
After several years at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Seville, my expressive concern needed to escape from established academicism and seek new expressive lines more in line with my aesthetic and personal concerns. That is why I ended up studying in Cuenca, where the faculty was closely linked to the Museum of Abstract Art and its freedom of concepts. It was also at that time that I was captivated by the work of Pablo Serrano and his particular vision of figuration. Without being a direct influence on my work, it was an incentive for a search for my own authenticity and artistic discourse.
Do you listen to music while you work? What kind?
Music is considered to be the most sublime art that exists and the one that has the greatest capacity to transmit feelings. Music is fundamental in my life and my creation. I listen to all kinds of music from classical (especially when I work) to jazz, pop, rock, etc.
When do you consider something -apparently- unfinished to be finished?
That question is very difficult to answer... there is a point at which the work reaches its maximum expressive capacity and from that moment on all work on it is useless. Fortunately, I trust a lot in the people around me, especially my wife, with whom I form an enviable professional team that perfectly captures the expressive peak of the work.
You model busts live, performances without filters. What is your opinion of Artificial Intelligence in the plastic arts?
The truth is that I don't have any opinion on the matter, I just believe that art (in all its versions) represents the maximum reach of humanity as such, in its virtues and its defects. Perhaps we should see artificial intelligence as another creative fact of the human being…
What is your favorite corner of the province of Huelva?
By love, experience, and belonging, La Palma del Condado.
Our previous protagonists,época ceramic, left this question in the air: What place does intuition occupy in your creative process?
Intuition is everything. There is a point of "not thinking" and letting yourself go that is only reached with a blind conviction in experience and intuition. Getting to that point is not easy, but it is undoubtedly a victory.
Can you summarise your creative process from the moment you receive the commission?
It depends above all on the type of work and its functionality. But above all what I do is let myself be carried away by the moment and by the circumstances. Experience has made me see that, in my case, excessive preparation can be detrimental to the final result. I like to flow and read what the circumstances suggest.
Can we somehow apply the words craftsmanship and sustainability to your work?
Sculpture has always made use of traditional techniques that date back to prehistory and, to a certain extent, advances in its technique do not go beyond the use of modern electric ovens and some tools... I think that sculptors are one of the guilds that have the least or should be concerned about the term 'sustainability'.
What type of sculptural material do you feel most comfortable working with?
Above all, with clay. I also work with wood, bronze, and resins... but I think that the principle and above all the material that best captures the sculptor's sensitivity is clay.
Which historical artist would you like to have a chat with accompanied by an orange wine and a plate of Iberian ham?
With Picasso, but perhaps not to talk about art but to drink a lot of wine or, better said, a good Luis Felipe brandy, which is made here in La Palma del Condado.
Could you leave us a question for the next guest?
Yes: Do you think that work is more important than destiny and luck, or the opposite?
