GONZÁLEZ

Miguel Ángel González's trajectory gravitates and unfolds among a multiplicity of artistic disciplines and practices that stem from his passion for dramatic art. At the age of 23, he decides to move from his native Geneva to Barcelona, determined to study academically at the Constantine Stanislasky studio. Since then, his involvement in projects such as the founding of the Banana Factory cultural centre or his forays into the field of super 8 short films and performing demonstrate that restless spirit and desire to explore new creative contexts that, since the 1990s, led him to fully immerse himself in lamp design. Through them, he found a medium in which to combine the experiences and knowledge acquired throughout this period that, in his commitment towards creativity, he submits to continuous renewal.

 

To understand the idiosyncrasy of his designs, it is vital to know his deep-rooted link with the world of cinema and theatre from which a multitude of references are born that come together in each of his lamps. Attracted by the assembly processes of machinery since his adolescence, he begins to collect a variety of pieces of an industrial nature that combined together will give shape to his designs. In the hands of the artist, the meaning of the object acquires a new dimension that has its roots in the industrial aesthetics of films such as Terry Gillian's “Brazil” or theatre companies such as “Fura dels Baus”, with whom he would eventually collaborate. In this sense, the fragmented pieces that are interwoven under a robotic and machine-like appearance, turn his lamps into artifacts that could well have been featured as props in the futuristic feature films of the fifties. However, his creative development, with links to artisanal production, radically opposes the dehumanization and serialization that the industrial model entails.

 

In each of his surprising creations, Miguel Ángel takes us back to the idea of beauty unveiled by the French poet Lautréamont and later used by surrealist artists according to whom beauty lies "in the fortuitous encounter of an umbrella with a sewing machine on a dissection table. "Based on this approach and without giving up the intrinsic utilitarianism of the object created, Miguel Ángel incorporates human emotions, organic forms and our irrational world into a diversity of pre-existing objects that, in their unusual associations, are reborn as metaphors. From this point of view, the ability to create atmospheres and environments that directly influence our perception transform this object into the ideal vehicle through which a series of pieces that would individually be inert are brought to life and are given a soul.

 

In addition to its aesthetic and functional aspects, it is worth adding the ethical component intrinsic to the act of recycling. Instead of hiding the defects and imperfections typical of reused objects or materials, his lamps manifest and celebrate the capacity for resilience and adaptation. In this sense, the germ that underlies the creative process carried out by Miguel Ángel is connected to the Japanese philosophy Wabi Sabi, based on the beauty of that which is imperfect. In contrast to the traditional Western aesthetic based on perfection, he advocates for a beauty arising from incomplete, humble or defective things to place special emphasis on the idea of the passage of time as something natural and, in its own way, beautiful. As in his lamps, the defects, asymmetries and roughness are enhanced to rediscover the beauty of that which is authentic.