Congratulations to Federico Herrero on the opening of Barreras Blandas, on view through December 31 at the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica in San José. The exhibition is organized by independent curator Paz Monge with associate curator Sandino Scheidegger.
In Barreras Blandas [Soft Barriers], Federico Herrero creates an installation that incorporates painting, sculpture, and works on paper. This arrangement of works suggests a possible transition from painting as a flat medium towards sculpture. The exhibition unravels as an immersive experience in which visitors physically navigate the artworks, activating their sensory awareness of the space. In sum, Barreras Blandas presents painting as an independent system, understood in relation to the natural landscape and urban structures.
Forms appear to jump from one surface to another, occasionally transforming into solid volumes. Some sculptural works are made with molded cement, a material imbued with reference to architectural structures. At times, they resemble everyday elements: furniture-like forms that recalibrate our perception of these quotidian objects. The exhibition creates a world in constant flux, in which an understanding of our own perspective is constantly renegotiated.
Barreras Blandas institutes a relationship between painting and space. For Herrero, painting is not a flat surface: it coexists with a structure of vibrations and sounds, and is activated through the senses. This is most evident in sculptural volumes that emerge from the ground. These forms are translated onto the surface of Herrero's paintings, alluding both to speed bumps on city streets and to shark fins cutting through the waves of the ocean. Similarly, the architecture of local icons and regional monuments, like Ojo de Agua's diving board, informs the aesthetic structures at play in the exhibition.

mpefm COSTA RICA art press release