La soledad del atleta

The Solitude of the Athlete (1992) /Citius, altius, fortius (1992)

The long artistic career of Mariano Rubio (Calatayud, 1926) is characterised by the absolute coherence that arises from his affiliation with renaissance ideals applied to art, not only in his pictoric and graphic output, but also in his work as a teacher and in his extensive work as a student of graphic art.

The author describes his own work as highly elaborate, removed from chance solutions, balanced and at the same time unbalanced with regard to tradition, as well as the source of new sensations and meditations in the viewer.

The personality of the artist intervenes to introduce doubt to a reality that is comprehensible in itself, up the point of transforming it. Rubio’s production is personal and highly original, where contemporary elements integrate with deep-rooted tradition, combining human sentiment with the architectural sediment of the geographical area of his creations.

He combines the artistic testimonies of the land and its most illustrious creators, incorporating elements from previous civilisations, together with a very modern personal creation using unquestionably contemporary materials and symbols.

The search for new languages through the use of painting and engraving techniques, two activities which are inseparable in the work of Mariano Rubio, gave way in the 90s to new fabrics that arise from this co-existence of both techniques, in which textures, etchings and large-format additives with qualities akin to the painting medium are a key feature. Good examples of this inseparable complementarity are the works: La Soledad del atleta (Fresco and pigments on canvas) and Citius, altius, fortius 1992 (Etching and templates on canvas).