Presence of Absence

In 1959 Pablo Serrano participated in musical experiences by the group directed by Pierre Schaeffer in a show by the Galleria del Disegno in Milan, where the Burning of the Object (Quema del Objeto) ceremony was performed for the first time—an experience which would be repeated in other locations. Combustible and noncombustible, hot and cold materials (irons, woods, veneers, clays, etc.) contrast and coexist and would be transformed through fire. He conceived this process to be performed in open spaces with the participation of spectators. This type of work was formally and conceptually linked to experiences carried out by artists such as Lucio Fontana, Alberto Burri, and Manolo Millares. The thought process behind the series Drama and Burning of the Object (Drama y Quema del Objeto) created by Serrano from 1957 to 1959 which this sculpture belongs to is the artist's reflection on the fact that all materials die, perish, disappear, yet remaining after their death is the presence of absence.