The IVAM is dedicating a major exhibition to this woman of international stature who takes the public into her recognizable and disturbing universe of memories, desires, complaints, tremors… «I never think negatively and I will always fight, without impositions, in defense of my ideals
Carmen Calvo (Valencia, 1950), winner of the National Plastic Arts Award 2013 and one of the most international Spanish makers, has the patio of her studio full of flowers. But they won’t find daffodils, roses, or lilies there, which are their favorite flowers, but rather a sample of the plants they literally encountered along the way. Author of impressive works such as ‘When the forest trembles and bleeds’, uncomfortable and critical works against all kinds of violence such as ‘It’s not what it looks’, and always strangely poetic and with roots that feed on harsh reality, the artist shines until January 15, 2023 a major exhibition at the IVAM, held on the occasion of the presentation of the Julio González Prize, discussing his fundamental lines of research from the late 1970s to the present day.
Carmen Calvo builds her personal vision of the world “by activating mechanisms such as dreams, memory, desire or fear”, and she does so largely “by using the recovery and processing of discarded images and objects”. For example, the exhibition highlights her critical view of the oppression and inequality of women. A reflection that has intensified over the last decade « through the use of rescued and intervening photographic images that show us, in a very direct way, silenced women, mistreated in their daily work, festive or family life. Hidden and suppressed faces under fabrics, rags, ropes or enigmatic remnants of toys. She is lucky: she continues to enjoy making her works as was enjoyed in her day by that girl who painted hopscotch on the sidewalk of the street next door to her parents’ house. As we speak, keep working.
– What don’t you want to be?
— Neither crybaby nor defeatist.
– You’re still unstoppable.
– Artists cannot retire, we would lose our souls.
– What life do you lead?
– A very normal life, I spend many hours in my studio. That’s what I’ve always done: work. And at the age of 72, I am here today, for example, packing paintings that will be taken for an exhibition. I do it all. I’ve been awake non-stop since seven in the morning. My head works perfectly, but my body no longer guides me so much and at certain hours of the day it already asks me to withdraw. Osteoarthritis is uncomfortable.
“Your mother told you that you run a great risk of the painting driving her crazy.”
– Ah, yes, a serious risk… I suppose [Risas.] A very extreme passion can drive you crazy, and that’s how I live my work. But know? What I like is to live with passion and work in my studio as if every day is the last. If I don’t feel like something I leave it and that’s it. Life is short.
– What do you not want to lose?
– I don’t want to lose the ability to get emotional. And that’s hard sometimes because I just won’t stop creating and spinning my head. But I demand it of myself: «Strive to be moved, fight to be moved!».
– What did I not imagine?
– That one day I could make a living from painting, but I’m lucky that it is. Of course: there is always the unknown, there is always the question of whether your work will interest others. But the first thing is that it should interest me. It is a happiness in life to be able to choose what you want to do and live from it; and if you do, you can’t afford to waste time on nonsense.
– What intimate relationship do you have with art?
– A relationship in which I behave very possessively. I devote myself entirely to art. I am not married nor have children, I live devoted to him.
– I don’t know what to tell you…
–… [risas.] Well, I have friends and my family, and I also have my paintings, which are my children.
– Wow, well, you have to admit you have great kids.
– [Risas.] Thank you very much!
– What do you need?
– Externalize what is happening to me, what I feel, what I think. I like to communicate and I have to. Although, later on, the truth is that I spend hours and hours alone.
– What do you do your work for?
– Oops! Art encourages people to keep living, encourages to look around, educates, makes life happy, makes it more interesting… If we were more alert, we would support culture more because culture is the future. A country that does not support its culture has a sad future.
– What is clear to Carmen Calvo?
– What a day passes, a day that does not return. That is very clear to me.
– And good, what do you have?
– That I easily fit into places and their people.
Carmen Calvo has in common with Simone Simon, besides the fact that the actress was not married, her love for nature, the ancestral, the unknown and the interest not to get stuck in the routine. Simone Simon played in ‘La mujer panther’ (1942) and Carmen Calvo was allowed to make a beautiful poster for the cover of an edition of ‘La mujer araña’ by Manuel Puig. Sometimes his works are a party; Sometimes his works are like the agitated roar of rain on the windows of a skyscraper: a disturbing and gentle fear overtakes you.
– The planet.
– I am already in an era where I see the future of the planet as very dark. I lived a different profile: I played a lot on the field, we knew how important agriculture was, we knew the change from one season to another. Now it seems to me that there are many children who are not familiar with the countryside, and who do not enjoy nature, nor the clean air that we breathe. Now we have water restrictions and many people even get angry about it. I was raised not to leave the lights on, why have a lamp on that you don’t need? And not to waste water, or to leave the taps open stupidly.
– And now that?
– The fact is that so many atrocities have been committed in general against nature, which are so necessary to our lives, that we are now all paying for them together. We have not taken care of the seas, nor the rivers, nor the forests… It’s not that I’m pessimistic, but I can see that we’re not doing well, that we don’t stop making mistakes, of which many already repeated. I don’t know how long I’ll live, but I know we’ve passed forty cities. Of course, something must be done so that the situation does not worsen, crossing our arms does not solve anything, but where to start? You have to see how everything is: not just the landscapes and natural resources, but when we talk about cities, there, in addition to the pollution we breathe, we have the society of unbridled consumption that we have created. Either very strict measures are taken or we go further.
– Accompanied by what?
– Of the always necessary education and culture. How important is the culture that everyone has acquired, the education they have received at home and abroad, the responsibility they are willing to take, the sensitivity they have for people, animals, objects… I have lived a time when consumption wasn’t as crazy as it is now; It’s no longer enough to have a good television, you have to have the biggest, the best, the latest model.
– And for what?
– In many cases to see nonsense. If the little ones are not properly trained, bad business. It’s not just a matter of everyone having cell phones, they’ll have to be brought up in the habit of reading and knowing how to appreciate what things cost and the need to take care of them. There is something that I think is very important when it comes to talking about education, but also to interacting with each other: empathy. Having empathy, not only with other people, but also with the world we are in, which welcomes us. I don’t have children, but I also look forward to the future of those who do, and to that of the new generations, all those who will come after us and who may no longer be able to enjoy the Mediterranean as we did . .
– How did we get out of the pandemic?
– We left as we could; I had the covid in July, I caught it exactly while setting up the exhibition at the IVAM. He had traveled to Berlin twice, etc., and nothing. And yet… The other day I came back from Sardinia and nobody wore a mask on the plane. Going back to business as usual, it would be very necessary to have a broader perspective, not just self-centered.
– Nostalgic?
– No, I am not falling into nostalgia; I look at the present, not the past. One is memory and the other is nostalgia, I have a memory of what I lived but no nostalgia. I look at the day to day, and I don’t stop dreaming. Dreaming is important to create and live. Without life projects, whether you are an artist or not, a bad thing, bad. My main project is to live and be happy. The most important thing in life is to keep going.
– Spain today.
– Each time we have to defend more in a democracy that has cost us a lot to achieve. We must protect it and take care of all the social rights we have won. If people went out more, they would know what health care is like in many other countries, for example. Here we still have very good healing. We are a relatively young country that has made a lot of progress after a dictatorship.
– Do you not like what you see in politics?
– I very much agree with the current government.
– It seems that the next election will be won by the right.
– I don’t think about that, I’m sure. I never think negatively and I will always fight, without imposition, in defense of my ideals. For example, the women’s fight is my fight. And the situation remains dire in so many places, not just Afghanistan and Iran. In Spain we have come a long way, but there is still a long way to go. For women, professional performance is generally more difficult because we also have to pay attention to other important things: family, care… Progress is being made, but the battle is not yet over. The sum of injustice and intolerance is appalling.
– Which habit has not been lost?
– I’m made of paper. I read and write on paper.
– What have you never thought of?
–… at suicide, which is still a personal choice. Life is great, even with its terrible moments. It will always be worth living and letting live.
Source: La Verdad
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