A Madman, 2024

Jose Manuel Solares  

It is a dull and dreary afternoon
of a fruitless autumn, on the earth
barren and ragged
where the shadow of a centaur wanders.
Along a road in the arid plain,
among withered poplars,
alone with his shadow and his madness,
goes the madman talking loudly.
In the distance you can see shady steppes,
hills with underbrush and cambrons,
and ruins of old oak groves
crowning the sour serrijones.
The madman rants
alone with his shadow and his chimera.
His figure is horrible and grotesque;
skinny, dirty, battered and badly shaven,
eyes of heat
illuminate his emaciated face.
He flees from the city... Poor evils,
miserable virtues and chores
of bored pimps, and the
ruinousness of idle merchants.
Through God's fields the madman advances.
Behind the skeletal and dry earth
red with rust and brown with ashes
there is a dream of lily in the distance.
He flees from the city, the urban tedium!
Sad flesh and villainous spirit!
It was not for a tragic bitterness
this wandering soul torn and broken;
purges an alien sin: sanity,
the terrible sanity of the idiot.
Antonio Machado

The sculpture, inspired by the poem “A Madman" by Antonio Machado, captures the essence of the poem's themes: madness, introspection and the search for meaning. It reflects the emotional depth and complexity of the character portrayed in the poem, showing the struggle between reality and illusion. The artist can use a variety of materials and forms to convey the feelings of isolation and the search for understanding that Machado expresses so beautifully in his work.