Alén
- Fabián Lage (Fabián Lage)
The history of the Alén sculpture begins on December 30, 2015, when a gust of wind knocked down a centenary cypress located in the heart of the Municipal Garden of Carballo. The tree was very deteriorated inside and the strong storms of that winter ended up demolishins it. But now the wood of this tree has a new life within this sculpture.
The craftsman from Carballo Fabián Lage took on the task of reusing and recycling the cypress wood not only with the creation of Alén, but also with the challenge of providing urban furniture to Carballo’s Praza do Hospital. The result speaks for itself, in a process that took three years, 1,800 hours of work and 10,000 remains of cypress branch only to build the benches, wastebaskets and flowerpot stands. And creating a sculpture that reaches “beyond what our eyes see” in Lage’s words. In Alén, the author has used state-of-the-art products, both in the treatment of conservation and protection of the wood, and in the manufacture of replicas of the human parts that make up the piece, which are made from real models.
A vital rebirth
The large sculptural piece offers a varied chromatic spectrum in which light plays a fundamental role, both to enhance the intensity of the colors and to perceive the cluster of sensations that it intends to convey. Hence, depending on its position it offers a litmus full of brilliant reflections that go from jet black to mahogany with golden highlights. Thus, the lack of light turns the sculpture an intense black while with direct light it acquires transparency, revealing the golden reflections of the wood.
For Lage «Alén is life after death, a rebirth that allows us to live and coexist with dignity. A necessary vital attitude that encourages us to seek spaces of rebellion and liberation through which we can flee from so many cages, real and imaginary, that keep us tormented».