Cristina Iglesias began studying chemistry but dropped out in order to pursue a career as an artist. She took art classes in Barcelona before completing her education at the Chelsea School of Art in London. Cristina Iglesias belongs to a generation of artists who were active in the late eighties, a period in which Spanish art, and specifically sculpture, gained worldwide recognition. Her exhibition at the CAPC in Bordeaux in 1987 gave her a taste of international acclaim, and her participation in the Spanish Pavilion at the 45th Venice Biennale in 1993, which she shared with Antoni Tàpies, consolidated her career. Cristina Iglesias uses cement, alabaster, resin, iron and glass, as well as plants such as bamboo and dry leaves, to construct sculptural forms that emphasise textures and materials. Through the interplay of light and shadows on latticework, pant motifs and reliefs, false ceilings, blind doors, walls, canopies and other architectural elements, Iglesias sets up a dialogue between objects and the surrounding space. The spectator’s experience is a key element of her works, which dramatise the space and create an aura of mystery, labyrinth-like settings and echoes of literary universes.

Cristina Iglesias has regularly exhibited in museums and galleries throughout Europe and America, notably at the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1985); CAPC Musée d'art contemporain, Bordeaux (1987); the Kunsthalle, Bern (1991); York University, Toronto (1992), Arteleku, San Sebastián (1995); the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds (1995); the Solomon Guggenheim Museum, New York (1997); Palacio Velásquez, Madrid (1998); the Guggenheim Bilbao (1998); Serralves Museum, Porto (2002), the Carré d'Art - Musée d'art contemporain, Nîmes (2002); the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2003), and the Ludwig Museum, Cologne (2006). Her works can be found in major collections such as the Guggenheim Museum New York and Bilbao, the Tate Gallery in London, the Museo Nacional Reina Sofía in Madrid, MACBA in Barcelona, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, among others.

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