Carolina Coronado
Bob van Damme - painter and gallery owner
In my opinion, art consists of four elements: inspiration, emotion, technique and composition. Carolina Coronado is a pure artist who demonstrates all four of these elements.
The inspiration for her work is undeniable: a need for love and affection, a need to interact with other people. In her work, she shows her heart and opens up her soul.Her extremely feminine personality is reflected in her sculptures and paintings.
Emotion is, of course, also present. A cry to be understood, a desire for her most intimate feelings to be acknowledged, a profound truth which stems from her creativity. An almost classical technique takes her earlier work to a high plane, but what is brilliantly reflected in her most recent work is balance.
Finally, as regards the element of composition, her art is completely dominated by "filling" the picture: by stripping it of all its superfluous elements, it shows the essential final element.
What is most worthy of attention is that, by expressing her needs, she reflects stimulating ideas and transmits unshakable optimism. You can often see the warmth and the colours of the Spanish countryside and soul; even in her purest work.
And, perhaps what is most admirable about her work is that she pays no attention to trends and artistic movements but rather tries to create her own harmony and balance. That is what any artist aspires to achieve.
Carolina Coronado is not only a great artist but also a great person, full of tenderness and kindness. For that reason, she meets all the requirements of genuine art. I consider her art to be enriching and strengthening.
Anita NARDON - A.I.C.A. (may 2001)
Carolina Coronado's paintings were selected to appear in an important exhibition in Palencia, Spain, in 2000. Carolina Coronado both paints and sculpts and imbues her art with great strength and serenity.
She was born and educated in Madrid, where she gave art classes from 1964 to 1972, and completed her studies in ceramics workshops in Brussels, such as Ucorale and Voot and JL Coyette for sculpture. Since 1993, she has participated in many exhibitions presenting clay and bronze figures and her paintings.
Two styles can be seen in her artwork, a truly "focused" creation, in that each painting has a focal point which cannot be ignored.
Her canvasses are painted in colours ranging from the brightest to black, blue or dark red, touching on white and the softness of pastel tones, which can present risks for the artist. Carolina Coronado uses all of this to transport the spectator to a territory which is dominated by images from her memory.
Her work on paper, which is more subtle due to the lightness of the brushstrokes, displays great technique which never diminishes the power of the emotion conveyed.
There are hazy landscapes containing people, spontaneous vegetation and a series of works expressing a pressing need.Her work on paper has a liberating power and provides relief when compared to the degree of concentration found in her canvasses.
In her sculpture, there are also two styles to be seen. There are bodies, more or less defined, and figures inherited from the long history of statue-making. Fashioned according to the artist's own rules, these beings captured in full motion emit a kind of current, a wave which can be converted into pleasure or uncontrollable rage.
The word "immobile" is not appropriate when referring to these vibrant sculptures.The other trend in her 3D work is less serious but still reflects the artist's concern for what lies ahead for mankind. Made out of bits and pieces, useless or obsolete objects, her sculptures made from recycled materials invite us to reflect on the advances made by man, which are not always well thought out.
Carolina Coronado takes these nameless objects and makes out of them mysterious and sometimes extravagant beings or devices enabling us to escape or dream. This sums up life, as does her artwork, which is clearly prospering.
Juan Hernández Moa.
Carolina Coronado presents us her recent work divided into two areas: the first devoted to sculpture and the second to painting.
Both activities are united by a single creative criterion, which stems from her constant attempts to comprehend and interpret life's experiences.
She is neither interested in nor committed to any fashion or trend and as an artist, she does not seek to please the masses, but rather focuses on the individual and converts her constant search for balance and harmony into the focal point of her unceasing creative impulse.
Her concise ideas are reflected in her clean canvasses where the strokes which represent our existence are mixed with paradoxes, but at the same time endeavour to reach a harmonious central point. Her ideas are also conveyed by her highly original sculptures, which transmit stability but, at the same time, disquiet and uncertainty, for such is the life of man and the artist
wishes to convey to us life's struggles and contradictions.
Wood, metal, stone … whatever the material, the artist's stimulating ideas and endless optimism make themselves known. In Carolina's hands, these materials come to life and take on new meaning, while never losing their identity, since the artist is capable of using them to transmit her message without altering their nature.
Carolina's work is a reflection of the energy, spirit and abundant talent of an unconventional artist, whose creations, with both geometric or spontaneous shapes, come into being sometimes just for fun or sometimes for more serious reasons.
