Antonio Julio Lopez Castro Solo Show

About

The paintings and drawings included in this exhibition were made between late January and April 2010, during the course of (and following) a four-week residency in a studio-cottage at Cill Rialaig, west Co.Kerry, Ireland. Artist's statement: Man leaves traces of his existence on earth. These remnants are in a great number the result of our necessity to find and to create shelter within the landscape, and also to gather and celebrate: buildings, dwellings and structures. Historically understood as a place of living connection and encounter, these paintings explore the landscape as the place we inhabit, a place that contains the systems of communal life. My work is also concerned with the here and now, paying special attention to the specifics of ‘place': the built environment, mans connection to the land, belonging, being from somewhere, and the idea of ‘shelter' as ultimately one of the basic human needs. Shelter is here interpreted at an intimate level rather than a panoramic one: a sanctuary from society, a place from where to honor the wider world, a place that represents and reflects on the infinitesimal value of human life within the immensity of natural history.