“I’m still more alive than ever.” This line captures the spirit of Eduardo Lastres, the Alicante-born artist famed for restrained, geometric sculpture, who steps forward now with a renewed sense of self and purpose. His latest exhibition, curated by Maria José Gadea, opened this Friday at 20:00 in the Alicante Fish Market municipal exhibition hall.
The artist splits his time across multiple places, and the show is titled Fifty Works, presenting almost all new pieces with a handful of older works that have never before been shown. It marks Lastres’s return to celebration after a difficult period during the pandemic, including a hospitalization for Covid.
“I contracted Covid and nearly didn’t make it. I spent fifteen days in hospital with oxygen, and though I left with no lasting effects, I chose to celebrate life. I honor the artists who guided me—Mondrian, Sempere, Léger, Picasso, the Russian and American minimalists, and especially Dürer and Goya in drawing,” says the Alicante-born sculptor, explaining that the exhibition stems from a set of very old pieces that gain new meaning within this show. The works interweave emotion, including a piece linked to his mother’s painting and a plaster portrait of his father from 1974, plus a drawing from 1972 of a woman sitting on a sofa. All of these together reveal the evolution of his style—abstraction and figuration, expressionism and geometry, improvisation and order, with color playing a special role.
“The exhibition’s title, Multiple, mirrors this approach: drawing and sculpture have coexisted since childhood, leaping from abstraction to figuration. Lastres never limits himself to a single format. Sempere may be known for painting, yet engraving remains a vital thread, and the artist himself remains consistent in spirit,” explains the painter and sculptor.
Desire to create
Maria José Aguado notes that this “ode to color” conveys joy and a strong urge to create. The artist appears at a peak of maturity, vitality, and completeness, blending old works with present pieces. The materials—methacrylate, iron, plaster, wood—along with knowledge from his training as an artist and architect, enable mastery across techniques, with drawing holding a special significance and a leaning toward cubism.
The show unfolds in sections, featuring a sequence of DM plates where drawing is explored in a freer, almost improvisational way, paired with wood, recycled materials, and other elements. The set includes four hands, a collection of fifteen works spanning painting, sculpture, photography, and collage, plus vibrant still lifes and pieces suspended in space, as well as renewed steel and aged timber. “In the end, all the materials converge to create a personal vision of expression”, the curator notes, describing an artist who seeks to communicate through a broad palette of references.
Visible Until March 24, 2024.