Exhibitions
Pere Ciurana turns cork upside down into art in Santa Cristina
An exhibition brings together part of Batet's artisanal universe, built over decades through thousands of hours of precision, patience and craft.
The “la Caixa” exhibition hall in Santa Cristina is hosting until August 31 an exhibition dedicated to the artisanal work of Pere Ciurana, popularly known as Batet, a creator who has made cork the raw material of his own universe. The exhibition brings together a selection of decorative objects made entirely with this material and allows us to discover a career marked by meticulousness, perseverance and an extraordinary ability to transform cork.
Far from limiting himself to conventional decorative work, Ciurana shapes all kinds of pieces from original models. Most of them he reproduces in real size, while in the case of some constructions, especially ships, he works on scale. The result is a collection in which each piece requires a long and meticulous artisanal process, from the selection and cutting of the cork to the modeling and final finishing.
The scale of this work is particularly evident in the case of the boats. The first one he built, in 2001, required around 1,300 hours of work. However, with the experience he gained, the process was perfected and Ciurana managed to considerably reduce the time needed to complete subsequent pieces. The knowledge of the technique and the learning accumulated over the years have been essential to develop his own way of working.
Knives, sandpaper and fragments of cork are some of the tools with which the craftsman transforms each piece. The process requires precision in each cut, a great ability to shape the material and, above all, many hours of dedication. Before a work reaches the exhibition hall, each fragment of cork has been cut, adjusted and patiently worked by Ciurana.
He himself acknowledges that this activity is, above all, a passion and a hobby. He also admits, however, that the relationship with the material is not always easy and that on occasion frustration appears when a piece does not end up taking the form he had imagined. This combination of patience, demand and perseverance largely explains the level of detail in his creations.
The magnitude of his production gives an idea of the scope of this craft. The Cork Crafts Exhibition represents, in total, some 220,000 hours of work. A significant part of this creative heritage is preserved in the artist's home, stored in boxes specially prepared to protect the pieces from dust, humidity and other factors that could deteriorate them.
Pere Ciurana's exhibition career dates back to 1993, when he first presented his work in Santa Cristina, in the space where the Tourist Office currently stands. He later exhibited in the town again in 2007 and 2016, precisely in the Caixa room which is now recovering part of his creative universe.
His work has also been exhibited at the Palafrugell Cork Museum, where he presented his work in 2008 and where he currently has several pieces on permanent display. His production has also reached Palamós, Calonge and Sant Antoni de Calonge, Cassà de la Selva, Vidreres and Maçanet de la Selva, among other towns. Barcelona has also been the scene of his exhibition activity, with an exhibition in Illa Diagonal that was visited by more than half a thousand people.
This itinerancy has allowed his creations to be known beyond his immediate surroundings and reach very diverse audiences. Wherever he exhibits, the reaction tends to be the same: surprise at his ability to convert a material so closely linked to the Mediterranean landscape and culture into objects full of detail.
The Santa Cristina exhibition is, therefore, much more than a display of craftsmanship. It is an approach to a way of creating that requires time, precision and perseverance and that has turned cork into Pere Ciurana's personal language. A singular work, full of small filigree and with its own identity that claims the value of craftsmanship as a form of artistic creation and as cultural heritage.
With decades of experience and some 220,000 hours of accumulated dedication, Batet's work continues to demand a broader perspective and recognition that goes beyond local borders. Santa Cristina now offers a new opportunity to discover it.
You may be
interested
...
