PRESS RELEASSE

ESCALERA REAL
A PAINTING INTALLATION BY PABLO REY · HOLLAND TUNNEL ART PROJECTS · JUNY 2002


The Holland Tunnel is proud to present the latest work of Spanish artist
Pablo Rey, a painting installation of intense color titled "Escalera Real."

This installation is composed of seven paintings of different colors that follow
one behind the other in vertical formation like an imaginary ladder; a ladder
that serves as a metaphor connecting the earth and sky, the worldly to the spiritual,
begining with its own structure, an ascending succession of richly hued
paintings ranging from red to brown, green to blue and culminating with white.

Each painting works separately within its own pictorial world maintaining its singularity
and integrity while working in conjunction with the others to form a unified whole.

The work creates a dialogue with its surrounding space and installed on the most
prominent wall of the gallery, becomes the visual center of focus. Its austere and
minimal presentation transforms the space into a chapel-like setting and thus, the
gallery itself becomes an integral part of the installation.

The installation reflects on a philosophical aspect of Man's being: the
vertical relation of a human being to his or her existence and the reality of this
relation to the spiritual and mysterious. This vertical relationship is emphasized in the
perpendicularity of the work and in the succession of colors as opposed to the
horizontal one we maintain to the things and people who surround us.

Thus, the progression of pieces, from the intense red of the earth to the brown and
green of the landscape to the blue of the sky to the white of the spiritual stand
as a metaphor for the elapsing of our own life; from our more basic human condition
to one more humanly transcendent, and each step of the "Escalera Real" leads
us, unavoidably in time, despite our distractions, internal chaos and negations, to
the "kingdom" of the spirit, purity, light and love.