Solano, Susana

Trained in Fine Arts at the Universitat de Barcelona, the city where she was born, Susana Solano began her artistic practice through painting and later moved into sculpture. Made of wood, her first works from the early eighties show the clear influence of Brancusi, which she soon abandoned for the methods of the Catalan artisanal forging tradition, her sculptures taking on a monumentality in which solid structures, architectural enclosures and open cages predominate. In the nineties, with works close to Minimalism and Constructivism, she produced sculptures with a strict geometric simplicity that she gradually abandoned in favour of a certain lyricism and a spiritual vindication of the material. She is considered heir to the Spanish sculptural tradition, and follows in the footsteps of Julio González, Jorge Oteiza and Eduardo Chillida.

She has exhibited since the eighties in numerous galleries and institutions such as the Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona (1980); CAPC Musée d'Art Contemporain, Bordeaux (1987); Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (1993; MEIAC, Badajoz (2004); Fundación ICO, Madrid (2007): Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2011); and IVAM, Valencia (2019), among many others. She has participated in international exhibitions such as Documenta, Kassel (1987 and 1992); São Paulo Biennial (1987); and Venice Biennale (1988 and 1993). Her work is included in collections such as Artium, Vitoria-Gasteiz; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; MoMA, New York, Fundació ”la Caixa”, Barcelona; Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid; and MACBA, Barcelona.