Helena Almeida: 'Seduzir' [To Seduce, 2002] (detail)

Collection

Rama [Branch]

Image caption
BLANCA MUÑOZ

Rama [Branch]

  • 2001
  • Stainless steel
  • 300 x 50 x 50 cm
  • Cat. E_132
  • Acquired in 2002
By:
Beatriz Espejo

If there is one thing that defines the sculpture of Blanca Muñoz, it is her search for weightlessness, as she seeks to make her works seem ethereal without resorting to the facile solution of having them hanging by a thread. Rama [Branch] (2001) is a paradigmatic work in this regard. It translates her interest in the universe, the cosmos and gravitational forces. In it, one sees her constant quest to strike a balance between light and shadow, full and empty, movement and stillness. As evidenced in this piece, the material best suited to her purpose is stainless steel.

Branch is the product of her London period, when Muñoz, after researching cosmology, developed an interest in fractals, the mathematical model describing objects and phenomena that are frequent in nature and which cannot be explained by classical theories, obtained through simulations of the creative process. This idea of bifurcation, of dividing something into two branches, arms or tips, led the artist to work with a multitude of branching forms. Here, the development is entirely vertical (the piece is three metres high) with an allusion to the natural environment, one of the inspirations for her investigation of the structure of forms. Like her other work, Branch treats weightlessness as the state in which something floats in space without feeling the effects of the atmosphere. It marked the opening salvo in a series of allusions to botany later developed by the artist.

Throughout her career, Muñoz's proximity to the world of science has given her a characteristically geometric and constructivist language. She also incorporates an intense sense of dynamism and movement. The highly transparent geometric forms are made to be seen moving in space, in accordance with the motion of the cosmos and our own bodies. It is about understanding and transmitting the idea that our position is determined by the stars.

Beatriz Espejo

 
By:
Beatriz Espejo
Blanca Muñoz
Madrid 1963

Blanca Muñoz obtained a BFA from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1988. In 1989 and 1990 she was awarded scholarships from the National Museum of Engraving and the Royal Academy, both to study in Rome. The primary driving force behind her work is the need to construct an image of the physical space we inhabit, in relationship to the universe as a whole, and the resonance the two produce within us. Muñoz became interested in printmaking from an early age. Between 1992 and 1993, she worked in Mexico on a grant, where she underwent a turning point in her art. The change in latitude and the angle of the sun gave her a new awareness of the role played by the sun's orientation in certain positions of an object in space.

As a result, she extended her perspective from plane to volume, from graphic work to sculpture, and started to create three-dimensional works with engraving plates. She gradually established a dialogue with science, modulating a game of approximations and contrasts between scientific representations of the universe and plastic images. In the summer of 1997, she spent a month as a guest at the Institute of Astrophysics in the Canary Islands, an experience that furthered her interest in current cosmological theory and she consequently joined the Madrid Astronomical Group. In the following years, during her time in London, she combined her study of science and nature.

She has received many accolades for her graphic work, including the National Engraving Award in 1999. Her most important institutional exhibitions include 'El universo transparente' ['The Transparent Universe'], at the Espacio Uno in the Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid, 2004) and 'Circunnavegación 1990-2013' ['Circumnavigation'], at the Sala Alcalá 31 (Madrid, 2013). Muñoz has also explored the field of jewellery. He work in this field was shown at Joyería Grassy (Madrid, 2010) and she is developing other pieces at the Louisa Guinness Gallery of artists' jewellery in London, with which she recently collaborated.

Beatriz Espejo

 
«Art Cologne», Baukunst Galerie (Cologne, 2001). «ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair», ARCO (Madrid, 2002).
Vv.Aa. Arco 02. Feria Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, Madrid, Arco/Ifema, 2002. Vv.Aa. Colección Banco de España. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Banco de España, 2019, vol. 3.