Juan Carlos R - PHOÎNIX

Juan Carlos Rayas (Alicante, Spain) is a sculptor and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Faculty of San Carlos in Valencia, with training at the Prague School of Art and Design. He currently develops his work in collaboration with Claroa Gallery, the gallery that represents his work and with which he promotes the development of his most recent projects.

Since the late nineties, his sculptural practice investigates the relationship between nature, time and matter. Through direct carving in stone and dialogue with woods eroded by drought, the climate, or the action of insects, he explores processes of transformation, the memory of materials and the continuity between the organic and the mineral, understanding sculpture as a space of research and knowledge.

PHOÎNIX · Arbor Mundi II

Long before becoming a symbol, the palm tree was food, shade and survival. From Mesopotamia and Egypt to Mediterranean cultures, Phoenix dactylifera accompanied communities capable of producing life in territories where water was a scarce resource.

Its ancient Greek name, phoînix, shares a complex linguistic history with the Phoenix, the bird later associated with regeneration.

In this sculpture, the body adopts the vertical structure of the palm: the torso extends into a trunk and the face begins to disappear among the leaves.

It is not a body turning into a tree. It is a human form learning another way to grow.