Bodegón con carburador, 2010

César Galicia  

Bodegón con carburador (Still Life with Carburettor) is a pigment print after a still life by César Galicia (Madrid, 1957), one of the leading names in contemporary Spanish realism. In this panoramic composition the traditional bodegón is updated with the objects of an industrial and technological age. On a long concrete shelf stand a dismantled valve amplifier with its glass tubes, transformers and a small fan, a blue rack-mounted audio interface and a second black audio unit, both bristling with buttons and connectors, a small silver toy sports car and, at the right, a gleaming motorcycle carburettor and headlamp. Cables coil across the shelf and hang over its edge. Behind, a pale wall stained with drips, splashes and traces of paint suggests a workshop or a studio. A carburettor thus takes the place of the fruit and vessels of the classical still life, and the meticulous rendering of metal, glass, plastic and corrosion shows the precision that defines Galicia's painting, in which the humblest object becomes worthy of contemplation. The long, narrow format reinforces the sense of a shelf seen at eye level, and the pigment print, on cotton paper, preserves the fine detail of the original. The edition comprises 99 impressions, numbered and hand-signed by the artist.