El Combate II: "La Pirzmide"
1996. Sculptural project for the Bienal de Sâo Paulo



by Ileana Alvarado venegas

Pyramid: Combat 2

"The obsession of getting near stars and planets caused modern man to neglect the earth in the wish to reach the invisible... Maybe that is the reason why the pyramids are the most ancient representation of power."
Juan Luis Rodrìguez

The beliefs, dreams, illusions and hopes of human beings transcend their creator in so far as he gives them life as ephemeral or permanent presences that perpetuate the image of the concept or of the visual reality.

Within this continuous concern to make human subjectivity concrete, some artists use materials in a rational way - without abandoning emotivity - aiming at obtaining a wholeness from the matter itself, not only physical but also conceptual. The work by Juan Luis Rodrìguez Sibaja is an evident example of this need of matter to communicate its own language through artistic creation.

Pictorial constructions made of crushed stones together with powdered colors and pigments, ephemeral sculptures made of materials such as ice, pieces of canvas and other things, torn slits elaborated with different techniques of metal engravings and a coherent theoretical stance which is manifest in his didactic activity and in several written texts are some of the elements that determine the pioneer feature of the creative work of Rodrìguez in his country, Costa Rica.

La Pirzmide (Combate No. 2) is irretrievably linked to El Combate, a work shown at the VI Biennale Internationale de Paris in 1969, when he was one of the representatives of France in the condition of foreign artist. A boxing ring measuring 2 meters by 2 meters, the true "image of power," was the stage on which the three acts took place; the first was formed by a question mark made up of ice died in vivid red, that melted leaving bloody marks on which perched - in the second act - two chairs of different sizes also made up of ice and in the same red color; the only remnant of the symbolic fight being the enlarged red stain on the floor. The last scene reproduces the coronation of the winner - a wooden red-stained chair whose back was shaped like a boxing glove that looks down admiringly on the result of its victory. The scenes progress accompanied by the sound of trumpets, trains, airplanes and an interview, by the artist, of two retired boxers.

La Pirzmide is based on the general concept present in Combate: "the use and abuse of power." This time the fight among men is established by one of the better-known formal and conceptual representations of power, which raised and still raises questions. La Pirzmide is vivid red and it is built with ice which, according to a statement by Rodrìguez, is a material made up of one of the indestructible ephemeral elements: water. On its top is raised a question mark which stresses the idea of mystery and difficult access to this old and significant geometric form.

The sound of the different elements of nature is, at the same time, part and counterpart as it establishes a permanent tension in this eternal fight among men to obtain power and which is also caused by their need to establish an harmonic contact with nature so as to guarantee their survival.



Chronology
Born in San Josë, Costa Rica, in 1934. In 1957 his first solo exhibition took place at the USA/Costa Rica Cultural Center, in San Josë. With a grant awarded by the French government he travels to Paris to study metal engraving at the School of Fine Arts in Paris. Since 1961 he is continuing his studies in the Netherlands and has participated in many exhibitions and was awarded many prizes.


Solo exhibitions

1995
El Combate, Salas de Exposiciones Temporales de los Museos del Banco Central de San Josë, Costa Rica.
1976
Instituto Nacional de Seguros, San Josë, Costa Rica.
1974
Retrospectiva de 10 a~os de su trabajo, Museo Nacional en San Josë, Costa Rica.
1967
Hospital Belle-Isle, Metz, France.
1964
Galerìa Horn, Luxemburg; Galerìa Club Ibero-Americano, Bonn, Germany.


Group exhibitions

1995
Semana de la Cultura Centroamericana en Europa, Museos del Banco Central, San Josë, Costa Rica; Semana de la Cultura Centroamericana en Europa, Brussels, Belgium.
1994
Primera Bienal de Grabado Europeo, Espacio Cultural de Lorient, Brittany, France.
1992
X Bienal de Gravura, Museu de Gravura, Curitiba, Brazil; Juan Luis Rodrìguez, Museo de Arte Costarricense, San Josë, Costa Rica; Kunst aus Costa Rica, Sprengel Museum, traveling exhibition, Hannover, Germany.
1990
Grafix Aus Costa Rica, IFA Galerie, Institut fÆr Auslandsbeziehungen, Bonn, Germany.
1984
I Bienal de La Habana, Havana, Cuba.
1979
IV Bienal del Grabado Latinoamericano, Instituto de Cultura Puertorrique~o, Escuela de Artes Plzsticas de la Facultad de Bellas Artes, Universidad de Costa Rica, San Josë, Costa Rica.
1973
Bienal Internacional de Sâo Paulo, Brazil.
1972
XIII Salon de Grands et Jeunes d'Aujourd'hui, Grand Palais des Champs-Elysëes, Paris, France.
1970
26ême Salon de Mai, Centre Culturel de Saint Germain en Lay, France; 8ême Biennale de Menton, France.
1969
El Combate, IX Biennale de Paris, France.
1967
Dix Ans de Crëation dans les Lettres et les Arts, Palacio de Radio y Televisi?n, Paris, France; 3ême Salon d'Art Graphique, Union des Artistes d'Ivry, Parc de la Mairie d'Ivry, France.


Awards

1994
Premio Unico del Sal?n de los Maestros, VI Bienal L&S de Pintura Costarricense, Costa Rica.
1975
Prèmio Aquileo J. Echeverrìa, two prizes; Premio Ancora de Oro, La Naci?n.
1973
I Sal?n Anual de Artes Plzsticas, gold medal, Museo Nacional de Costa Rica.