Carla de Beus

Chasing from sheet metal is a century-old technique which experienced a renaissance with the emergence of 'modernism'. Artists began to realise that sculptures could not only be cast or carved, but could also be composed or constructed, from sheet metal for instance. This was influenced by ideas relating to space and developments in welding and soldering techniques. Picasso's friend and fellow Catalonian Gonzales, who came from a family of metalworkers, is an example. He created his figures from pig iron and hammered sheet iron, using this technique in part to create his expressive idiom. As a result, work in iron managed to free itself from notions of industrial art and craftsmanship and was incorporated in the autonomous sculptures created by Chillida, Lalanne and Philip King, for example.

The way in which Carla de Beus portrays the human body is interesting due to her use of materials. The metal and plastic immobilise the body parts depicted, bringing repose. Because only parts of the body are portrayed, a sense of distance is created which is impossible in relation to one's own body. Familiar parts of the body become alien objects. Confronted with these objects, each spectator feels the need to touch the strange phenomenon in order to restore the sense of familiarity. Ever since human beings learned how to work with metal, it has been used to portray the human body. With her objects, De Beus is thus following a tradition going back thousands of years. The fragmented form in which she presents her bodies reminds us of how such objects are found: in pieces, often broken and frequently difficult to recognise.