Either through caution or prudence, form in Rosa Amorós’ work is insinuated but never clearly defined. Thus, the gouaches and sculptures shown here elaborate an alphabet of signs, whose simplicity demands compositional rigor. Amorós has opted to represent metaphors that are charged with allusions. She uses fired clay and stoneware, as well as marble in her sculptures, but she is able to overcome the limits of her materials by using them innovatively. Her greatest effort is directed toward the elimination of any difference between them. Even in the gouaches she attempts to transcend material limitations. In Paisaje (Landscape, all works 1990), she suggests that one can carry a portable landscape inside oneself like an artificial heart. Each piece maintains its autonomy and is enveloped in an absolute silence. Still, from the group as a whole, one can see that she is reflecting on an esthetics of chance.

It is interesting to compare the similarities among Amorós’ more architectonic pieces—Paisaje or Centro (Center), for example—and the constructions that are typical of the Balearic Islands. Talayotas, prehistoric stone towers, taulas, crosses, and navetas, prehistoric tombs of the Balearics, could easily be detected as the sources of Amorós’ work, though certainly she intends her artworks to function differently from these original objects. The prehistoric past inspires her work just as African art has given many Western artists over the past century creative inspiration. Amorós does not limit herself to using these constructions merely as models. The relationship between the original monuments and her work is probably less conscious than accidental, even if it is perhaps the most authentic element in the works shown here. In her drawings, images proliferate, singly or in groups. Drawn in outline on the whitish backgrounds of the gouaches, they are either filled with or void of color, identifying a neutral opacity. Ultimately, these drawings are more than simple experiments, and are as artistically valid as her sculptures.

—Menene Gras Balaguer

Translated from the Spanish by Hanna Hannah.