Lorenzo Valverde | Barcelona, Spain
-
untitled, 1991
A light eel leaps at us like a flash of lightening through a grid of spots. The regular positioning of the spots instills a harmony that creates a contemplative mood. The snake is a strong symbol in different cultures. In Christianity, it is seen as a sign of malevolence, a warning that the pleasures of the Garden of Eden are of a fleeting nature. Using simple abstract form the artist depicts a sophisticated conceptual message to visualise the old testamentarian myth of the fall of man and puts it into a remarkable modern framework. Valverde strips his subject down to its conceptual essentials; the snake as a warning and the amorphous shape in the top corner as the forbidden fruit that doubles up as a sensual reference to Eve. The surrounding golden glow makes it all the more tempting as we watch in anticipation. Along this avenue of interpretation, the spots serve a visual path, a journey of hope. Perhaps a path that helps to overcome human weakness.