Jorge Castillo (Jorge Castillo Casalderrey-Chato, Spanish, b. 1933). "Frozen Games For Elephants On And Around Boxed Prints" mixed media, 1966. Signed on recto and verso, with date (1966) and location of creation (New York City) on the verso as well. Inscribed "Prueba de Trabajo - Acumulacion de 2 Formas con Tinta" (translation: Proof of Work - Accumulation of 2 Forms with Ink). A fascinating Surrealist mixed media sculpture by Jorge Castillo, one of the most important Spanish artists to embrace Surrealist and Art Informel techniques. This composition includes biomorphic imagery embellished with layers of gray pigment around a central, unpigmented rounded form as well as directional arrows delineated in black ink around the periphery of that central form. Floating within the plexiglass covered wooden shadow box is a lucite entity that moves freely when the box is turned, perhaps a game piece used to play the "Frozen Games For Elephants On And Around Boxed Prints" notated on a label that is signed and dated by Castillo on the verso. Size: 10.625" L x 9.75" W (27 cm x 24.8 cm)
Born in Pontevedra, Spain in the province of Galicia, Castillo and his family emigrated to Argentina one year after his birth due to the political climate. He spent his youth in Buenos Aires, and after participating in a competition in 1941 was admitted to Buenos Aires' Ecole des Beaux-Arts. This said, Castillo left soon thereafter due to a disagreement with the school's philosophies, and learned autodidactically and via apprenticeship. In addition, he worked in collaboration with the Argentine Surrealist Raquel Forner (1902-1988). Castillo returned to Spain in 1955 and worked on Surrealist ink drawings and gouaches while living in Madrid. These works were featured in his first exhibition at Galeria Altamira, Madrid in 1959. Following this, Castillo moved to Barcelona in the early 1960's and then spent 2 years in Paris and made sojourns in Geneva as the decade progressed.
Among his many honors, Jorge Castillo was selected for the Sao Paulo Art Biennial in Brazil in 1960. In addition, his work has been exhibited internationally in both galleries and museums of New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, Paris, Lisbon, Turin, Hanover, Dusseldorf and Geneva. Furthermore, Castillo has participated in the Venice Biennale three times (1964, 1976, and 1970) and had a solo exhibition at the Nationalgalerie Berlin. Castillo also won the International Drawing Prize in Darmstadt, Germany in 1964 as well as the Darmstadt Prize for Painting in 1975. Castillo's works are in permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Lausanne, the Museu Fundacion Juan March, the National Galleries in Edinburgh and Berlin, the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, the Kunsthalle Bremen, the Albertina Museum in Vienna, the National Library of Spain, and the Guggenheim in New York. Castillo has lived in New York since the early 1980s, and has been commissioned to create public sculptures in La Coruna, Messina, and Barcelona.
Provenance: Private Los Angeles, California, USA collection
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#167817
Condition
A few minor scuffs and scratches to the plexiglass covering the face of the work. Signed on recto and verso, with date (1966) and location of creation (New York City) on the verso as well. Inscribed "Prueba de Trabajo - Acumulacion de 2 Formas con Tinta" (translation: Proof of Work - Accumulation of 2 Forms with Ink). Fitted with suspension wire and ready to display.