CRISTINA IGLESIAS

One of a generation of Spanish sculptors who gained international recognition during the 1990s, Cristina Iglesias creates large-scale, minimal structures that articulate a delicate balance between the physical and the visual. Characteristic of her work are imposing forms made of concrete, iron, or aluminum, juxtaposed with intricately etched surfaces (often worked with rich waxes and patinas) and sumptuous materials such as glass, alabaster, and tapestry. Concerned with form and space as they occur in nature, Iglesias in effect creates her own pared-down, sculptural landscapes. Her roughly hewn yet sensitively modeled freestanding sculptures, though of generous proportion, are nearly all constructed on a human scale, and her compositionally varied architectural appendages generate a dialogue with the surrounding space, beckoning the viewer to circumnavigate them. Iglesias describes her work as "pieces that are like thought, places from which one sees, spaces that fall between reality and image, between presence and representation, spaces that speak of other spaces."

Untitled (Alabaster Room) [Sin título (Habitación de alabastro)] features three sloping canopies composed of thin, translucent sheets of white alabaster supported by an iron frame, which are hung from the gallery wall just above head height. As in so much of Iglesias's work, ambient light and space are as fundamental to the work as the physical materials themselves. Here, the light produces a softly suffused glow through the alabaster membranes, at once imbuing the canopies with a sense of immateriality and subtly altering the beholder's perception of the space delineated below them.