SIMPLE ACTIONS SUCH AS CUTTING, FOLDING, GLUING OR RIPPING, MINIMAL GESTURES APPLIED TO RAW MATERIAL ARE WHAT CONNECT THE WORK OF MARUSELA GRANELL AND MANU BAÑÓ.
IN A COMMON SEARCH FOR BEAUTY, BOTH EXPLORE DIFFERENT PROCESSES INVOLVING MANIPULATION. MANU TAKES MATERIALS OF INDUSTRIAL ORIGIN IN STANDARD FORMAT AND, THROUGH SIMPLE MECHANICAL GESTURES, TURNS THEM INTO SCULPTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL OBJECTS. HIS CREATIVE PROCESS DOES NOT DRAW ON REFERENCES NOR DOES IT HAVE A PRIOR RESEARCH STAGE; HE BASES HIS APPROACH TO DESIGN ON INTUITION.
MARUSELA, ON THE OTHER HAND, UNDERSTANDS BOTH THE THOUGHT PROCESS AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS AS BEING INSEPARABLE. SHE DECONSTRUCTS PAINTING BY EMPHASIZING THE ELEMENTS OF WHICH IT IS COMPOSED. THESE ELEMENTS, SUCH AS THE WORN-OUT TUBE OF OIL PAINT OR THE PIECE OF PAPER, ARE, IN HER PROCESS OF CREATION-DESTRUCTION, BOTH ARTWORK AND MODEL AT THE SAME TIME. SHE REFLECTS ON THE OLD ROMANTIC VIEW OF THE LANDSCAPE THAT PUT DISTANCE BETWEEN THE SPECTATOR AND NATURE AND EVOKES WITH HER WORKS THAT, LOOKING AT NATURE TODAY, MEANS LOOKING AT OURSELVES.
