CREU AÈRIA (Aerial Cross)
Francesc Torres, Maria R. Gelpí
2021
Francesc Torres conceived this project as an act in memory of all the republican soldiers who gave their life to defend their ideals and freedom in the face of the terror imposed by the dictatorial Francoist regime. The three prints represent three warplanes, drawn schematically, they become the figure of the cross evoking, inevitably, death and sacrifice. The military planes are machines with which to kill the enemy, but also the place where one can end up dying.
An aluminium box contains the three prints with the images of planes turned into shadows. Torres alludes here to the aesthetics of republican posters from the Civil War, but he essentialises them, simplifying the forms and chromatic range, so that the images become austere, raw, and forceful, like war itself. For its part, the metal reminds us of the fuselage with which the airplanes are built.
Edition presented the summer of 2021, coinciding with the exhibition Aeronàutica (vol) interior by Francesc Torres at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC).
The edition contains:
3 prints based on three original drawings by Francesc Torres. Prints made with the technique of digital giclée printing with Utrachrome pigmented inks on Hahnemühle William Turner paper of 308 g, of 36 x 26 cm.
1 booklet with texts by Francesc Torres and Maria R. Gelpí.
1 screen-printed box of anodised aluminium.
Graphic design by Jaume Roure.
The edition is made up of:
47 copies signed and numbered from 1/47 to 47/47.
3 copies PA signed and numbered from PA I/III to PA III/III.
4 copies PE signed and numbered from PE I/IV to IV/IV.
1 BAT copy.