For thousand of years man has reproduced his image both in two dimensional and three
dimensional forms. Up until the modernist movements of the 19th century, sculpture
in particular tended to be mirror images of the human figure. With modernism beginning
in the 19th century, the human figure took on abstraction as well as more conceptual
interpretations, allowing artists like Rodrigo de la Sierra to embrace the subtle
art of the metaphor.
Whatever it is that creates an artist, be it passion, talent, luck or opportunity,
Rodrigo de la Sierra seems to have it all. After successfully creating a career in
architecture, De la Sierra goes on to study and develop a career as an artist, as
a sculptor to be precise. First the exactness of the classical figure shortly after
leaving the academy. Then from a series of doodling figures drawn on a phone pad
is born the tragic- comedy figure of Timoteo, fondly nicknamed Timo.
De la Sierra refers to Timo as everybody’s man, somewhat of an alter ego. With a
closer study of this character one sees a seemingly comic veneer interpreting some
real serious stuff. While still a full time architect, De la Sierra gives birth to
Timo towards the end of 2006, with a small wooden sculpture of Timo leaning on the
world: “Reaching my Universe”, but this little man really arrives on the art scene
during the beginning of the global economic crisis, the banking crisis and the closing
of a major investment bank. The artist creates the money series in a pale bronze
patina, between 2008 and 2009 and all depict Timo in money situations, either dancing
on or with a balancing act with an America penny, all seemingly ludicrous and playful,
but on closer examination, very serious in their content. The pale patinas on the
bronzes are purposely chosen to further underline the subject’s lightness of being.
During this same period the news is inundated with foreclosures, labor strikes and
growing numbers of unemployment and so (Modern Times) “Timo y Los Tiempos Modernos”
is born, a pale, ivory colored resin installation depict ing many little assembly
line Timos hard at work on pipes, fuses and wrenches with the last figures in a desesperate
attempt to escape.
