CASTO SOLANO



Yesterday, as a child, I refused to admit the reason that pretended to justify the destruction of the Tower of Babel. Today I understand some divine justifications as part of human irrationality. Yesterday, reason was telling me that the world-wide ambient was obscure. "The Judge", "The Viewpoint" and "Mercury Child", were works that I made during a period of unsettling sensations; I needed to unroll and propose ideas that would speak about tolerance, about alliances of civilisations, about bridges between different evolutions, all in order to make possible an unlimited and just growth of human wisdom. I envisioned "The Harmony Arch", "Towers of Tolerance" and "Door of the Honourable". On the top surface of this last one, on the face that joins the sky, I carved a prayer that my parents taught me: "Cuatro esquinitas tiene mi cama, cuatro angelitos que me las guardan" (four little corners has my bed, four little angels that guard them). I must have mistaken the address, maybe it would have been better to carve it on the face that looks at mankind. Months later, some 11th of September and some 11th of March, cleavers tore open the prohibitions and they were used to justify performances and moral battles. Today, the world-wide ambient is more obscure, more threatening, so many lives have been robbed of their bravery - cynicism and hypocrisy justify their deaths. To postpone ideas that strive to fight against this situation is, without doubt, of no help. It is necessary to continue the path in a globalised world, but this world should not be inflated with injustices. To join forces of support that promote the interrelation of cultures, and that seek a cohesive and just evolution always from dialogue and with the absence of any type of violence, becomes essential.


All texts written by Casto Solano.
Translated from the original Spanish by iara Solano Arana and Samuel Metcalfe


Casto Solano is a Spanish Artist and Sculptor. Born in Navarra in 1958, he now lives and works in Vitoria-Gasteiz. His large-scale public works, created predominantly in bronze, can be found in cities across Spain, and across the world in Cuba and Russia. He also produces a large number of small-scale works.