As this show tried to demonstrate, with almost twenty works selected, on many occasions the role was for Chillida something more than just a material that supports the ink; for him it was an autonomous means of expression that uses forms closely related to his sculptures. This is especially appreciated in works in which the paper is cut on one of its sides, thus intensifying the clear reference to the volume and, therefore, to the sculptural work.
The cutting of the paper began in the 50s and 60s and culminates with the gravitations that appear at the end of the 1980s. In these, the cut paper gravitates on another that serves as a background, creating an articulation of space and relief which is already totally sculptural.
In the artist’s words: “one day I said to myself, ‘why are you making collages if you don’t like glue?’ So I stopped using glue and decided to put space instead of glue. I put the papers on top of each other and hung them with strings and called them gravitations. This is important to me because even without heavy weight, even the thinnest paper is always connected to gravity. I found it very exciting. People didn’t take it seriously at first. They didn’t realize the difference between this and collage. There is a big difference. The collage has glue between the sheets and I have put space in between. Nobody had thought of it before ”2.
The exhibition tried to explain the appearance of these gravitations as the conclusion of a process of reflection on paper that began more than 30 years earlier.
1. “(…) the ink also weighs in some way. The ink is heavy although not physically. It is the weight of a value. In painting things do or do not weigh according to the color you use. In the drawing, suddenly, a black brush has a weight ”. In: CHILLIDA, Susana: In Praise of the Horizon. Conversations with Eduardo Chillida. Ed. Destino, Madrid, 2003. Page 17
2. In: CHILLIDA, Eduardo; CARO, Anthony: Sculptors’ Dialogue. Ed. Art of this Century, New York, 2000. Page 45
