Paul Daly (Liverpool, 1963) arrived in Barcelona at the age of 19, attracted by the presence of Gaudí and Mies van der Rohe, brimming with curiosity to get to know their work in person. This was not at all unusual, since at the time Daly was a young architecture student.
That trip by Interrail (which took him to various European cities) was interrupted for two weeks as he immersed himself in the streets of Barcelona, a city that would soon captivate him. The spirit of the city, with its people, architecture and sunny weather, made for an unusual combination for the young man.
Daly’s love for the city of Barcelona can be perceived in the work entitled Rambla (Senescència), which won the 2018 Sculpture Prize of the Fundació Vila Casas, leading to the artist’s solo exhibition in Espai AO, at Museu Can Framis.
When Paul Daly took to exploring La Rambla the very first time, he made an architectural reading of the street, leading him to an almost mystical experience. The solid tree structures, properly aligned with their broad trunks lifting upwards to the sky with a generous complement of branches and twigs, were illuminated by bright rays of sun. This play of light along the boulevard, as he stood below the imposing plane trees, made him feel like he was inside a cathedral.
After his first trip to the city, the artist came to visit every so often, until in the first decade of this century he chose to move to Barcelona definitively, further enticed by the opportunity to work as an architect. After many years in the city he shifted towards the path of transformation, experimenting with practices that made him feel closer to his own creative and artistic passions.
Meanwhile, the spontaneous creation of a lighting fixture would end up being the origin of his current work. In order to conceal the lightbulb, he placed a dry leaf on it. Since then he has continued to explore natural elements, which to one degree or another he enlivens through the use of light boxes.
The exhibition the artist presents here is entitled Living Matter. It brings together a body of 17 pieces, 12 of which have never been seen before. Paul Daly works with a great variety of organic materials, from a diversity of leaves to roots and branches, all of which he gathers in sites where nature is fully manifest, whether in the middle of a Costa Brava forest or on Montjuïc, which he frequently explores. Each piece he makes is laid over a piece of glass, which is later backlit.
This is a laborious process, as all the organic material that he gathers is first exhaustively examined in his laboratory; then, if he deems it necessary, it is manipulated. At some point along the way he is obliged to interrupt the natural process of growth and decomposition, or the bacterial and fungal degradation of the material, to achieve the characteristic effects of his work.
The result is an oeuvre of subtle abstract collages, with a broad variety of textures, colours, transparencies and even voids. In these pieces the organic material is key, with the light of the backlit boxes enhancing them and acting as a catalyser, giving life to the materials shown. Just like what occurs in nature when the sun shines, Paul Daly revitalises these materials, which would otherwise seem to have been abandoned, forgotten or rejected.
In this exhibition we find various concepts and series he has worked with:
The Hedges series represents the decline of the four seasons. Each of the compositions offers us the colours, temperature and odours of summer transitions. We pay special attention to the wide variety of materials the artist uses to create these pieces: from cabbage leaves to kiwis, along with orange peel, zucchini slices and a range of roots.
Forest Floor is a set of three works that refer to the layers of organic material making up forest floors. These pieces are derived from these exceptional natural compositions, which are often unperceived.
Trees is an ode to the inner world of trees, a reflection on the interpretation we make of them, as well as a call to appreciate the inestimable value of their roots and leaves.
What the Insects Left Behind begins with the idea of what has been rejected (in this case by insects), which can then be transformed into something beautiful and meritorious.
The Sculptures series speaks to fragility as one of nature’s strengths, as well as to the inner beauty of things as they age.
In Gastronomy, the artist goes so far as to experiment with foodstuffs (onion, zucchini, lettuce, cabbage), which are combined with other materials from nature to create subtle compositions.