Sin título (Celosía III) (Untitled [Jalousie III])

Cristina Iglesias’ sculptural output has mainly revolved around experimentation with space. Her works are more closely linked to the feelings produced by specific spaces than to a sculpturally defined action, hence her preference for installations involving significant components of performance. The artist has stated that her sculptures are made to be lived in, inhabited in real time by the viewer: “In the sculpture, I use light as a chisel trying to get at the form, although that form can never be definitive. What can be seen in the piece is up to the viewer, interacting.” In Sin título (Celosía III) (Untitled [Jalousie III]) executed in wood and resin, the spatial lattice and maze-like space also contains fragments of the Joris-Karl Huysmans novel À rebours (Against Nature), the quasi-manifesto of decadence, in an attempt at a more in-depth subjective exploration of space as the result of juxtaposing transparency and concealment. The lattice structure as an architectural element has a twofold cultural connection: it is a wooden framework, hiding a private interior which is used both in domestic Islamic architecture and in the confessionals of Catholic churches. But its presence also provides a linguistic play on words in the original Spanish, since the word ‘celosía’ comes from ‘celos’, meaning ‘jealousy’, suggesting a psychological reading that disconnects from the structure of this kind of screen separating public and private spaces.

Carmen Fernández Aparicio