Willkommen im Zentrum für Internationale Lichtkunst Unna

Bernardi Roig (Palma de Mallorca, 1965) is one of the most important artists of the current Spanish art scene. His work includes sculptures and light installations, as well as videos, photographs and drawings. Characteristic are the human sculptures made of polyester resin in combination with fluorescent tubes. These are the artworks this exhibition focuses on.

The models for Roig’s sculptures mostly are older men with hanging bellies, unbuttoned trousers, and faces tormented by light. The white figures are shouting yet unable to communicate. Their cry is mute and unheard. Fluorescent tubes or TV monitors lend a ghastly glow to the strong whiteness of the bodies marked by anxiety and isolation.

The light in Roig’s artworks is neither tamed nor staged to a gentle play of perception. Here the light is powerful. Although light is basically a precondition for seeing, in its excess it also leads to blindness.

Roig’s protagonists are forced to perform repetitive and meaningless actions over and over. The artist is a story-teller, who sets the stage for human drama.