In the early 1980s, after her time in the United States, Soledad Sevilla (Valencia, 1944) expanded her field of action to installation art. A pioneer of this medium in Spain, she is also one of the artists who has most effectively explored its possibilities, often working with different types of public spaces. Although she started out in the field of geometric painting in the 1960s, Soledad Sevilla’s time at the Computing Centre in Madrid piqued her interest in aspects related to the repetition and variation of units and lines. For much of her career, forms and patterns made from lines have characterised her unique way of understanding and constructing painting as well as diverse floor and string installations.

The artist’s creative process is based on observing her surroundings and prioritising the penetrating gaze that leads to analysis and, subsequently, action. Rigorous accuracy and herculean effort have also marked the evolution of her pictorial series and installations. The relationship between her paintings and installations is complex and rooted in a process of continual feedback: one medium initiates a series, while the other is needed to continue and develop it. Her keen interest in and understanding of two- and three-dimensional space, which has grown broader and deeper over the years, stems from her early work with analytical and geometric painting.

This exhibition at the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo traverses Andalusia from west to east, making three geographical stops that also represent three types of installations in relation to the historical settings for which they were created The first was inspired by her spatial and sensory experience at an abandoned tunny fishery in El Rompido, Huelva, and originally materialised at her IVAM exhibition in a former convent now known as the Centro del Carmen. That installation, recently donated to the CAAC, gave us the idea for this show, which immediately extended to Vélez-Blanco in Almería, the next stop on the timeline and in the exhibition itinerary. Soledad Sevilla’s nstallation at that castle was a landmark piece, and its current recreation and adaptation to another monumental space also represents a new addition to the CAAC collection, having been donated by the artist. Finally, the show concludes with two installations made of white cotton thread, derived from her site-specific interventions in La Algaba, Seville.