use headphones
130cm x 160cm Softpastels on Paper 2021
Maria Tolstunova
In addition to already known groups of works by the artist, here for the first time we find works that concern the precarious balance of his most frequently depicted and fragmentarily documented subjects. It is the professional ballet dancers whose bodies tell their stories with on Paper. Here, too, it is pigments that carry the previously staged photographs. Since last year in particular, we have been able to experience how vulnerable the existence of performers can be, as their bodies are their main tool. Casanova Sorolla brings these “little stories”, which mostly elude the public, into the light and in relation to the big performances and has chosen the smallest possible stage, a podium on which the dancers let their bodies speak. In interviews and conversations led by Casanova Sorolla, the dancer subjects and their bodies alike tell of injuries, temporary failures, effects on careers and livelihoods and describe the tremendous fragility behind their strong presences and symbolically stand for their numerous undanced dances.
Gabrielle Cram