Han sentido alguna vez frente a una obra de arte lo que Vygotski definiría como “reacción estética”? Esa emoción intensa, vertiginosa, indescriptible, que nos invade durante unos segundos y nos inmoviliza, como si reconociéramos en la imagen, ya sea abstracta o figurativa, alguna verdad íntima oculta, un vínculo olvidado, un impulso original más allá del lenguaje y de los filtros de la razón. La experiencia se dilata en el tiempo y suele quedar grabada en nuestra memoria, insistente, impulsándonos a evocarla obsesivamente para tratar de descifrarla, de descifrarnos.

Las obras de Ángel Barroso Crespo (*1974, Ciudad Real, ES) tienen esa capacidad de conectar con el espectador de forma intensa, penetrante. Utilizando la mirada como eje narrativo, el artista nos sumerge en un universo de personajes anónimos, en escenas de intimidad, de soledad colectiva o de violencia, invitándonos a reflexionar sobre la anatomía humana y las relaciones interpersonales. ¿Cómo percibimos nuestro cuerpo y el de los demás en la velocidad de un mundo vanidoso y deshumanizado? ¿En qué lugar quedan las relaciones humanas en el contexto de una sociedad regida por el individualismo y las redes sociales?

El estudio del cuerpo constituye uno de los puntos de partida del trabajo de Ángel Barroso Crespo. Su riguroso conocimiento de la anatomía humana, así como su maestría técnica en pintura, dibujo, grabado y escultura, fruto de una formación académica clásica (Universidad de Sevilla), le permiten explorar nuevos lenguajes, donde el realismo convive con la deformidad y el exceso. Cuerpos matéricos, vulnerables pero al mismo tiempo altivos y contundentes, nos muestran brutalmente su desnudez sin filtros. Fascinado por la figura femenina, el artista crea personajes complejos, con una fuerte carga emocional, transmitida a través de sus volúmenes corporales, modelados a base de pinceladas.

En sus retratos de grupo, el individuo actúa como pieza del conjunto social, de una masa casi uniforme que, a pesar de su consistencia, le mantiene aislado e incomunicado. Sus personajes forman un bloque humano pero no existe una conexión corporal o intelectual real. No hay comunicación. Pareciera que lo único que les une, además de su cercanía física, es su atención a algo que ocurre fuera del lienzo. Pero, ¿Qué ocurre? Un suceso en el que estamos implicados, algo que se nos escapa pero que provoca una reacción en nuestro ahora interlocutor, la obra de arte.

Los personajes de Ángel Barroso Crespo nos miran. Les miramos y nos devuelven la mirada desafiantes. El espectador cambia su rol de voyeur pasivo para entablar una comunicación visual inesperada con el retratado, con los retratados. Incomprensión, sorpresa, desaprobación, indiferencia… ¿No hay algo en todo ello que nos es familiar?. Su mirada nos interroga, nos desnuda. Y no podemos escapar de nosotros mismos, de vernos protagonistas de algo que acontece, que está aconteciendo y que no acertamos a poner en palabras. Una emoción estética que nos perturba y nos fascina al mismo tiempo.

Laura Sánchez Serrano. Comisaria de exposiciones, Múnich. 2018.

Have you ever felt in front of a work of art what Vygotski would define as «aesthetic reaction»? That intense, dizzying, indescribable that intense, vertiginous, indescribable emotion that invades us for a few for a few seconds and immobilises us, as if we recognise in the image, be it the image, be it abstract or figurative, some hidden intimate truth, a forgotten bond, a forgotten truth, a forgotten link, an original impulse beyond language and the filters of reason. language and the filters of reason. The experience is dilated in time and often remains engraved in our memory, insistent, urging us to evoke it obsessively to try to decipher it, to try to decipher it. to try to decipher it, to decipher ourselves.

The works of Ángel Barroso Crespo (*1974, Ciudad Real, ES) have this capacity to connect with the spectator in an intense, penetrating way. intense, penetrating way. Using the gaze as the narrative axis, the artist immerses us in a universe of anonymous characters, in scenes of intimacy anonymous characters, in scenes of intimacy, collective solitude or violence, inviting us to reflect on the violence, inviting us to reflect on the human anatomy and interpersonal and interpersonal relationships.

How do we perceive our own and others’ bodies in our body and that of others in the speed of a vain and dehumanised world How do we perceive our bodies and those of others in the speed of a vain and dehumanised world? Where do human relationships stand in the context of a society governed by individualism and social individualism and social networks?

The study of the body is one of the starting points of Ángel Barroso Crespo’s work.
His rigorous knowledge of human anatomy, as well as his technical mastery of painting, drawing in painting, drawing, engraving and sculpture, the result of a classical academic classical academic training (University of Seville), allow him to explore new languages, where the new languages, in which realism coexists with deformity and the coexists with deformity and excess. Material bodies, vulnerable but at the same time haughty and forceful, they brutally show us their nakedness brutally show us their nakedness without filters. Fascinated by the female figure, the artist creates complex characters, with a strong emotional with a strong emotional charge, conveyed through their bodily volumes, modelled volumes of the body, modelled with brushstrokes.

In his group portraits, the individual acts as a part of the social whole, of an almost uniform mass. of an almost uniform mass which, despite its consistency, keeps him isolated and consistency, keeps him isolated and incommunicado. His form a human block but there is no real bodily or intellectual real bodily or intellectual connection. There is no communication. It seems that the only thing that unites them, apart from their physical closeness, is their attention to something happening outside the physical closeness, is their attention to something that happens outside the canvas. But what happens? What is happening? An event in which we are involved, something that escapes us which escapes us but which provokes a reaction in our now interlocutor, the work of art. now interlocutor, the work of art.

Ángel Barroso Crespo’s characters look at us. We look at them We look at them and they look back at us defiantly. The spectator changes his or her role of passive voyeur to engage in an unexpected visual unexpected visual communication with the portrayed, with the portrayed. portrayed. Incomprehension, surprise, disapproval, indifference… Isn’t there something in all this that is familiar to us? His gaze interrogates us, undresses us. And we cannot escape from ourselves, from seeing ourselves as the protagonists of something that that is happening, that is happening and that we are unable to put into words. in words. An aesthetic emotion that disturbs and fascinates us at the same time. fascinated at the same time.

Laura Sánchez Serrano. Exhibition curator, Munich 2018.