The crowds, the color red, the golden frames, the volume and the space are some of the elements that characterize the work of Olga Andrino (Ávila, 1959). The painter and sculptor she presented yesterday her new exhibition, “The spaces we occupy and other smells”, at the H20 gallery in Barcelona. Sight is not the only sense that is used in the artistic visit, since each of her works is accompanied by an olfactory note thanks to the Ernesto Ventós Foundation.
Each work is “a world”, he says, but his work “El abandono” is a representation of infidelity. “A couple enters a hotel and on the other side is a sad and abandoned woman,” says Andrino. The olfactory note that accompanies this work is humidity. The exhibition, which he carried out in a portico in Galicia, is made up of various materials such as wire, paint, cement or polyurethane foam.
Another of his works, “Soledad”, shows a man smoking at night in a corner while another urinates. “For me this work is a representation of man’s solitude”, he affirms. Lost childhood is also a recurring theme for the artist and she represents it with a space in which two girls swing. In this case, the sense of smell recognizes the smell of wet earth, “something that persists into adulthood,” recalls Andrino.
Crowds of people are essential for her since, according to what she says, she is concerned about the contemporary world in which “crowds fill the space, especially that of cities”, she says.
With her role as a sculptor, she looks at the world through the volume with the grouping of individuals. “Humanity changes when it is grouped,” says Andrino, who went from being interested in the volume of crowds to appreciating and transmitting their content. “Now I integrate emotions and feelings”, he asserts.
Social issues also have a place in his works. Andrino, observing that the individual “is eaten” by the crowds, captures this idea in his work. “When the refugees move the ‘me’ disappears to become a group of people,” he laments.
She herself defines her sculpture as “pictorial” and her painting as “sculptural”. “She also defines the color red for me,” she says. One of her most recognized works is a commission she was commissioned for Qatar, which consisted of a sculptural installation on refugees. “The issue was the tenth goal set by the United Nations, to reduce inequalities,” she says.
Among his inspirations, he indicates that the 20th century Vanguards were found, which revolutionized Western plastic arts, also transcending architecture, graphic or industrial design. “When I was a student they called me a lot,” she says. She currently defines herself as a follower of Cristina Iglesias, Anselm Kiefer or Goya. “They have made me feel emotional,” she says.
Regarding the current situation of art, she claims the importance of recovering the prestige of the artist since “the art market has made us become pawns used by the system,” says the artist.
