Ícaro Maiterna

Dancing with the earth

September 7 - November 7, 2024

Icaro Maiterena - Orogénesis Gestual XVIII, 2022, Treigny sandstone, h. 34 x 29 x 30 cm

Galerie de l’Ancienne Poste is pleased to present the Spanish ceramic artist Ícaro Maiterena’s first solo show in France. Born in Madrid in 1978, he has become increasingly recognized throughout Europe with his fascinating works that owe as much to geology as biology. The exhibition features a selection of 25 works created between 2020 and 2024.
Kneading clay is a way for Ícaro Maiterena to return to the origins and to what truly matters; to (re)connect with the world, with nature and others, and embed himself within an ancestral tradition by replicating gestures that countless others have performed before him.

It is also, and above all, an act of resistance against the excesses of an era obliviously lost in virtual reality. Creating is a political and social act, a celebration of handcraft, and an invitation to take the time to create, to observe, and reflect.

“I am inspired by orogenesis, the geological processes that deform and fracture the Earth’s crust, giving rise to folds and creases through powerful compressions”, Ícaro Maiterena explains. A cross between infinite vortices and Möbius strips, his abstract creations instantly fascinate with the strangeness of their shape, their eroded rock or burnt wood texture and their iridescent, almost surreal colour palette, shifting between warm and cool hues. Some of his pieces resemble fossils, while others are reminiscent of the forever frozen movement of a cooled lava flow.
To the Spanish ceramicist, featured for the first time in France at Galerie de l’Ancienne Poste, the magic of a work of art lies in its mystery. “Art slips through our fingers when we think we have grasped it”, he says beautifully. More than the finished object, it is the creative process that captivates Ícaro Maiterena. His pieces bear witness to a time that no longer exists. Each carries within it the sensitive memory of how it came to be: the emotion of a close encounter with the material, of a “choreographed dance with clay and water”.

Guillaume Morel
journalist and art critic