Fernando Sánchez Castillo (1970)
Anamnesis, 2003
bronze
two sculptures, each: 113 x 249 x 153 cm
copyrights reserved
The Mahler IV project at the Amsterdam 'Zuidas' business district (2005) initiated by several Dutch corporate art collections was the right moment for Rabobank to acquire a number of pieces by Sánchez Castillo.
His two-part work Anamnesis (2003) is extremely apt for a place like the Zuidas, where administrators and deciders work. The sculptures are an interpretation of the two bronze lions that stand before the Spanish parliament building in Madrid. The bronze that went into those sculptures was obtained from melting down cannons Spain captured in one of its many wars with Morocco, in 1860. Some one hundred and fifty years later, the artist was granted the permission of the Spanish army to use the original moulds in the casting of his sculptures. The sculptures are by no means identical copies. The artist's dramatic transfiguration of the lions evokes reflections on the temporality of hegemony and empire.
The artist also specially developed a unique pedestal for this spot on Amsterdam's Mahlerplein, the idea being that a traditional pedestal would cause the work to fade into the background of this stately square, home to banks and law firms. Instead the artist wanted the work to contrast sharply with its immediate environment. His two bronze lions rest on random, found objects cast in bronze: a car tyre, a branch, wooden beams, a brick, and even a Molotov cocktail.
