Xavier Corberó and the image of power The MACBA beyond the MACBA (4)

Two large basalt monoliths evoke one of the greatest symbols of power – the monarchy – through their titles and their monumentality. Made in 1988 and located since 2004 on the Rambla Nord, outside the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting on the campus of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, these works encapsulate the artist’s sculptural language. The figures seem to have been carved or broken by chance, almost accidentally. As is usual in his sculptures, Corberó likes to emphasise the natural provenance of the stone, as well as human intervention. Thus they appear as the result of an enforced or traumatic separation caused by the natural block of stone being broken. The insertion of cylindrical elements and other small geometric forms reinforces the nature-culture dialectics. In the case of S.M. La Reina, the piece is crowned by a form reminiscent of a peineta, a large decorative comb typical of Spanish tradition since the eighteenth century.