Juan Carlos Rayas - Mirra

Juan Carlos Rayas (Alicante, Spain) is a sculptor and holder of a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from the San Carlos Faculty of Valencia, with training at the Prague School of Art and Design. His work has been selected for and awarded in national and international competitions and is part of public and private collections. He currently develops his work in collaboration with Claroa Gallery @claroagallery, a gallery that represents his work.

Instagram: @artearayas

MIRRA · Arbor Mundi

Arbor Mundi is a sculptural series that explores the relationship between human beings and the vegetal world through myths and traditions from different cultures. Each piece begins with a metamorphosis to address questions such as transformation, memory, and the continuity between body and nature.

In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Myrrha, pursued and faced with an existence she can no longer sustain, pleads to leave behind her human condition. Her body is progressively enveloped by a tree until it disappears into it. Yet, Myrrha remains: the resin that oozes from its bark continues bearing her name and is interpreted by Ovid as her tears.

In this sculpture of fossiliferous limestone, the face seems to be absorbed by a vegetal structure that envelops and transforms it. The honey and caramel tones of the stone also establish a material correspondence with the amber hues of myrrh resin.

The metamorphosis thus appears not as disappearance, but as another form of permanence: the body disappears, but the matter preserves its memory.

Instagram: @artearayas