ZOOM/MACRO. Paintings & sculptures by Rómulo Celdrán

MACRO X

Polychromed polyurethane, aluminium, resin and foamboard

88 x 121 x 225 cm / 34.6 x 47.6 x 88.6 inches

2012

MACRO XI

Polychromed polyurethane, felt and epoxy resin

101 x 110 x 180 cm / 39.8 x 43.3 x 70.9 inches

2012

MACRO XV

Polychromed foamboard, epoxy resin, polyester resin and aluminium

201 x 28 x 13.5 cm / 79 x 11 x 5.5 inches

2013

MACRO XVI

Aluminium, polyurethane, digital print and epoxy resin

223 x 220 x 11 cm / 88 x 87 x 4.5 inches

2015

ZOOM XXXIII

Acrylic and pencil on board

175 x 142 cm / 69 x 56 inches

2013

ZOOM XXXIV

White acrylic and pencil on board

96 x 130 cm / 38 x 51 inches

ZOOM 41

Acrylic and pencil on board

113 x 130 cm / 44.5 x 51 inches

Zoom and Macro contemplate the Human Being as an elliptic subject. It is ignored, not through denial but because it is assumed to exist. The works of Rómulo Celdrán speak of objects and scenarios that are empty of explicit human existence, and at the same time of places that are full of implicit human existence.

Zoom and Macro act as camera lenses, graduating the scale of measurements with which we perceive what we look at and breaking down the correspondence between the real size of an object and the size that we perceive depending on how far away from it we are. They act as a kind of traditional magnifying glass that draws us closer to the object worthy of observation even when we keep an appropriate distance in order to view it.

The concepts of Zoom and Macro give the object new dimensions, strengthening its presence and inviting us to explore it, discovering hidden spaces and unnoticed nooks. They place us before a growing world, with the same consequences that we would see as Shrinking Men walking through a reality made up of objects whose unsuitable size renders them functionally useless, existing on a scale that is no longer human.

In the words of Rómulo Celdrán:

“I believe there is something magic in the world of scales. There is a kind of emotional memory that invites us to feel the relationship with the Macro objects as if it were a game. 

As children, we view the world on a much larger scale than other people. In order to satisfy that feeling of relationship with the external world, many brands of toys try to create a world on a child’s scale. They manufacture cars, kitchens, tools and other objects to scale for children. That memory of playing, of curiosity, of identification with what we apprehended remains somehow fixed in our memory.

Discovery, surprise and, of course, irony, are aspects that I would like to see hovering around this series of works. Reality does not exist. And if what exists is the perception that we have of it, why not explore the underlying principles of that perception?”