JOHN CASTLES

Available works

John Castles (Barranquilla, Colombia 1946)

He studied Architecture at the Javeriana University of Bogotá and the National University of Medellin. His career began in 1972 at the III Medellin Art Biennial. He participated in group exhibitions such as the II Salón de Atenas in the Museum of Modern Art in Bogotá. The Feeling of Space, Colombian Center in New York. 9 Colombian artists in the Organization of Ibero-American States in Madrid. He won the first prize in the XXV National Salon of Visual Arts, National Museum. Bogotá He also won the first prize in the Ciudad de Bogotá Trisesquicentennial Contest. Museum of Modern Art of Bogotá and Colombian Society of Architects.

He has worked as a teacher in Medellín at the National University. In Bogotá at the Universidad de los Andes, at the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University and now at the Faculty of Arts of the District University. He has also curated the exhibitions at the Gilberto Alzate Avendaño Foundation.

He dedicates his work to communicating the inherent qualities of the materials he uses, such as aluminum, iron or the oxide it generates. Starting from geometry, Castles introduces curved and organic shapes that turn the heavy steel sheets used in his sculptures into fluid and flexible structures.

He dedicates his work to communicating the inherent qualities of the materials he uses, such as aluminum, iron or the oxide it generates. Starting from geometry, Castles introduces curved and organic shapes that turn the heavy steel sheets used in his sculptures into fluid and flexible structures.

Constructivism and concrete art were the first interests of John castles, this movements inspired him to stark working with cardboard models. Castles began his career as a plastic artist in the sixties in Colombia.

If something defines his work is the use of metal, element he subjects to oxidation, deformation and in some occasions handled as a piece of paper. Castles sculptures lack the need for a pedestal, he believesthis object is foreign to the full structure of the work of art, this is why his pieces are conceived with a careful geometry, where both figure, material and shape are thought to be placed on the floor.

John Castles has cuestiones himself about the material aspects of sculpture such as weight and equilibrium elaborating pieces that play with the space they are put in.