León, 1979.
José Luis Casas is a giant who carries in his arms the worn out pebbles from the river bank to the silent penumbra of his studio. Casas turns old trunks abandoned to erosion into forms of unusual beauty. And, especially, he is capable of inventing magical geometries by fighting, like modern Vulcan, with the heroic strength of metals.
José Luis Casas says that his thing is to look, that the sculptures penetrate his brain through his eyes, to be regurgitated through his hands. A miraculous mystery, which had a beginning. "I think I am a sculptor by chance. For being at a certain moment in the place that is going to mark you forever. It is a magical moment in which you decide that you want to work with ideas, with space, with memories... that you want to become a creator through forms".
Casas works with natural elements: wood, iron and stone. With them he writes authentic poems in the air that have their metrics, which he builds through rigorous geometry. But is wood perhaps the most malleable, the easiest to work with? "Not the easiest. Because wood also has its own life. What is clear is that each material offers you a wide range of possibilities, stone has great hardness, it breaks just where you least expect it to. Wood is warmer and its texture can make you fall in love. Iron is strong, vigorous, and often serves as a support for my sculptures, although other times it becomes the great protagonist.
Extract from MARCELINO CUEVAS 18/09/1 in Diario de León
