Inside of
Matjö - Raum für Kunst, Cologne, Germany (2024)
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Inside of
Exhibition text of Inside of, by Carolina Serrano at Matjö - Raum für Kunst
October 2024
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Inside of consists of a series of sculptures and installations in which Carolina Serrano explores concepts related to human dichotomy through the idea of Limit. In this exhibition, the artist continues her sculptural thinking linked to the exploration of opposites, antagonisms and the duality of human existence through the investigation of opposing philosophical, theological and psychological concepts such as the question of good and evil, matter and spirit, right and wrong, freedom and enclosure. In Inside of, the concept of duality is related to the idea of Limit as something that separates, that disunites, that divides into two.
According to St. Augustine, the origin of suffering is the division and dispersion of the will, and the cause of evil arises from the fact that the will is unable to unify and divide itself. In Christian culture, evil is also personified by the figure of the devil, whose Greek word etymologically means “he who disunites”, “who causes division”, “the divider”.
In this exhibition, the intention is not only to show the works through the notion of the Limit, materializing that limit, but also to feel the limit through the observer's own body. By limiting the gallery space with barriers, the viewer and their field of action are limited at the same time, feeling that they too are limited, with their freedom of movement and vision conditioned by the barriers placed on the sculptures and which, in turn, have been placed on them too. The artist proposes that the wax sculptures and installations create a physical and psychological distance. By not revealing themselves completely to the viewer and, consequently, not being completely within reach, the viewer has to try to see in the distance which the works present themselves.
The Limit as something that divides, encloses or protects, as something insurmountable, that demarcates the end, as a creator of distance is thought of here, once again by the artist, in her constant attempt to understand what it is to be human.
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