Theoretics of bread (El pueblo español tiene un camino que conduce a una Estrella), 2019

Iron, artisan bread.
Total measurements of the installation: 175 x 290 x 230 cm.
Measurements height and base: 175 x 43 x 43 x 43 cm, 166 x 41 x 41 cm, 164 x 40.5 x 40.5 cm,
162 x 40 x 40 x 40 cm, 155 x 38.2 x 38.2 cm, 148 x 36.5 x 36.5 cm, 145 x 35.8 x 35.8 cm, 135 x 33.3 x 33.3 cm.

The sculpture that Alberto Sánchez created for the Spanish Pavilion in 1937, entitled El pueblo español tiene un camino que conduce a una Estrella (The Spanish people have a road that leads to a star), has sometimes been compared to a cactus and at other times to the shape of a Castilian field with its “furrows, hills and ridges”. However, for various reasons, we could also relate it to bread: Alberto was a baker in his youth, its shape seems to have been kneaded, and the sculpture is born of a wheat grinding wheel.

Theoretical Bread is a group of eight sculptures of different heights made from loaves of bread. These heights represent the Spanish proletarian classes whose average height was very low due to the conditions of misery suffered throughout history (1). The sum of the eight heights equals 12.5 metres, which is the same length as Alberto’s sculpture.

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Exhibition:
Theoretics of bread
Rosa Santos Gallery. Valencia. From 20 September to 22 November 2019.