Impossible Figures

By Christine Giraud

“A painting is always a fight because you have to start changing things…There's always the struggle and you try to minimize that so the creativity will flow.”

*Rafa de Corral, 2024 (Photo by Andrónico Saiz Miranzo)*

Rafa de Corral, the Bilbao artist based in Valencia, Spain, consistently paints impressive, uninhabited structures and spaces that, sparse and desolate, provoke dreamlike sensations and emotions in the viewer. From his days as a boy drawing his house to his current series exploring structures and sensibilities, De Corral has consistently created work that is hard to label but easy to distinguish.

De Corral spoke with me at his studio, Sporting Club Russafa, about his artistic origins, technique, and latest work.

Origins

When de Corral was a child, and later in high school, he drew his house and other structures, everywhere, all day. He was trying to understand the structures but without any awareness of perspective. When he went to university to study art, like many students, he was greatly inspired by the Masters and drew human figures. But his interest in forms, structures, and spaces never went away.

This may be related to his Bilbao roots. De Corral says he was influenced by the industrial landscape of Bilbao, just like Frank Gehry, the Canadian-American architect of El Museo Guggenheim Bilbao. “It made me very aware of structures. For example, I was impressed when I arrived here in Valencia because it has this forest of roof antennas and telephone cables. That’s not possible in Bilbao. I immediately saw the forms and silos and how they play with the light.”

Structures Evoke Emotions

De Corral sees how the light, forms, and spaces in structures force the viewer to explore our thoughts and feelings. His forms are often “impossible figures” that would never exist in real life, but we barely notice this as they hypnotize and make us wonder ‘What is this and where are we?’

The emotions he speaks of may be in our subconscious and hard to articulate. To help us along, he often names his paintings with titles like ‘The Door of Oblivion’, ‘The Incision’, and ‘Uncertain Rise.’

The best example of how the forms convey emotions comes from a series he painted for his deceased brother, Marcelo, seven years ago. He painted only in black and white and the perspective of most of the series was looking out from inside the structure, like lying in a coffin. That was a series of about 40 paintings painted from 2017-2019.

Technique

De Corral takes note of everything, the dark and the light, the organic and the artificial because he believes that it's important to have a clear mind about the painting, and how it will look in the end. “The more you can see ahead of time, the less you fight with it. A painting is always a fight because you have to start changing things. It demands something else here and there. There's always the struggle and you try to minimize that so the creativity will flow.”

He starts with the sky. Depending on his mood, the sky will be one way or the other. The clouds and light are realistic and help convey the emotion and the organic, against the asphalt structures. Then he finds the rest of the painting. The work can take him in directions he doesn’t predict. This is unwelcome but accepted by him. “I don’t particularly like not knowing where a painting is going, but I can't control it.”

Latest Work

In his latest series, Umbra, Penumbra, y Antumbra, 4/12/2024, de Corral is breaking further from the pas by experimenting with phthalocyanine green, which evokes a dreamlike aspect. The name of the series is playing with the different grades of shade that exist, the types of shapes they create, and the different emotions they convey.

The paintings, like his past work, look like they come from another time and place, a spartan dimension, but he adds imperfections that ground us like asphalt eroded by wind and rain, the print of a puddle, skies populated with bold clouds that are hard to ignore.

There are also twenty-six 3D printed wall-affixed sculptures in the series. With them, the important element is shadow. De Corral calls these sculptural elements "volumetric representations." They show "shapes in a timeless space where they coexist with cloudy, stormy, or clear skies.” Another installation of seven pieces are painted on the back with a photoluminescent paint that causes a reflection of light giving the sensation that they are backlit.

Sporting Club Russafa

Sporting Club has been an important part of his career and community. When de Corral’s brother died, he didn't have the strength or enough inspiration to paint for six months. Sporting Club invited him to become a workshop leader and directly share his work there, with the idea of helping him overcome the tragedy by working alongside other artists. He quickly realized that it was good for him to work with others and he has done that ever since.

He appreciates how Sporting members collaborate and make decisions together. “We function like a cultural association.” The studio has also increased his contacts. He can have direct contact with people who are interested in art. “At my last studio, I worked alone and went to the galleries to meet people, but I didn't get to know collectors.” And he loves that they bring in artists from outside to exhibit their work.

De Corral has reached a high point in his career with this new series. We look forward to seeing more impossible figures in the future.

Biography

Rafa de Corral was born in Bilbao in 1967 and is based in Valencia. Awarded numerous national and international awards, he has exhibited in Paris, London, Frankfurt, Verona, Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, and Valencia.

Among his awards are the first prize in the Kunst in der Stadt painting contest in Frankfurt, the first prize in the IX Biennial of Painting and Sculpture of Quart de Poblet, and the XXIX Bancaixa Pintura Award with his piece ‘The Hybrid City in Valencia’.