BGW. Liber Naturae. Carlos Forns

Almost twenty years after his last exhibition in Barcelona, Carlos Forns (Madrid, 1956) returns to the Catalan city and presents his first solo show at Sala Parés. ‘Liber Naturae’ occupies spaces 1 and 3 of the gallery, showcasing the artist’s recent works from the last years, combining paintings and sculptures with a selection of objects, books, rarities, and “talking curiosities” from his personal collection. All of them serve as sources of inspiration and bases for the construction of Forns’ ‘Liber Naturae’, for whom painting is both a scientific expedition and an initiatory journey.

Through his painting, Carlos Forns Bada reflects on the concept of constant flux. The universe is a vast system in perpetual transformation, where its parts and the beings inhabiting them shift and interconnect in an endless dance. No form is permanent; all are immersed in infinite metamorphosis.

Forns moves between deep contemplation and playful assembly of elements, specimens, or objects from his collection, found during travels or through research in the garden of the world. He enlarges them, combines them in unthinkable dialogues, and transforms and metamorphoses them through the eyes of an enthusiastic explorer. It is as if Forns compressed all his references and ideas into a giant chrysalis from which, upon hatching—as if drawn from a magician’s hat—thousands of imagos burst forth through the breach. From them, he builds networks and connections that take shape on the canvas, generating microcosms that act as links to the mysteries of creation and life—something like miniature expressions of the universe that also stand as images of the inner soul—of both the creator and the beholder. In his compositions, the changing nature of many of the structures projects imaginary geometries inspired by the hermetic diagrams of Giordano Bruno or the minimalist geometric images of Nicholas of Cusa. These apparitions invite contemplative meditation. He sees them as magical talismans from which metaphors and the transfiguration of nature are born. As he himself notes, “it’s about internalizing the universe so that we can become magicians, demiurges capable of creating in harmony with nature.

Curated by Sergio Fuentes Milá.