Spanish artists Joan Coderch and Javier Malavia have taken on the challenge of creating works of art together. In dialogue, four hands and two sets of senses search for a common voice to create works that lie between daydreaming and realism. Coderch attended art school in Barcelona and graduated in 1984. Malavia was a student at Saint Charles School of Fine Arts in Valencia until 1993. The two sculptors met at a workshop, discovered their shared interests, started working together in 2015 and quickly became world-renowned figurative artists. In their works, often cast in bronze, they impressively reveal not only the form and figurativeness of their subjects but also their attitudes towards life. Both currently live and work in Valencia. […]
Spanish artists Joan Coderch and Javier Malavia have taken on the challenge of creating works of art together. In dialogue, four hands and two sets of senses search for a common voice to create works that lie between daydreaming and realism. Coderch attended art school in Barcelona and graduated in 1984. Malavia was a student at Saint Charles School of Fine Arts in Valencia until 1993. The two sculptors met at a workshop, discovered their shared interests, started working together in 2015 and quickly became world-renowned figurative artists. In their works, often cast in bronze, they impressively reveal not only the form and figurativeness of their subjects but also their attitudes towards life. Both currently live and work in Valencia.
About their UN Biennale artwork // “Learning how to fly”
Icarus personifies youthfulness and rebellion. He is a symbol of innate youthful curiosity, the attraction of danger, the joy of adventure and the pursuit of higher things. In the work We all need to learn to fly Coderch and Malavia turn Icarus into a reminder to the world, which is exerting more and more pressure on young people in particular. Icarus becomes a sign of what really counts when dealing with future generations: conveying values that will lead to a better world, with prosperity for everyone, living sustainably and in harmony with the environment. Icarus’s ability to ascend gives him the power to take a bird’s-eye view of the world and the labyrinth of promises, to recognize the big picture and not only the small seductions.
