Guernica-inspired sculpture protests ongoing wars at the Art Kiosk in Redwood City

In his installation “Shadows & Light, the Legacy of Guernica,” the Redwood City resident aims to show solidarity with the innocent civilians, reimagining the painting in a three dimensional statement on the ongoing wars. 

“The painting is still very valid in this time and I couldn’t stop thinking of Ukraine and Gaza,” Escartiz said. “I love the painting because it’s talking more about the feeling for the people in the war — the anguish, the fear, the darkness.”

Escartiz’s sculptures — made primarily of wood and Styrofoam, covered in a layer of concrete — include the same main figures in the original cubism painting, but are accented with his own additions. 

A watermelon slice, a growing symbol of solidarity with Palestine, lays below the gorged horse. The figure entrapped in flames on the right is wearing a Ukrainian trident symbol around its neck. 

In the left lower corner, a dismembered soldier is holding “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl, which details his experience in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. The work feels critically relevant today, however, Escartiz said he read it many years ago.

“There is something very strong in what he says, the end is like no one has the right to commit the same atrocities they have suffered at the hands of others,” Escartiz said. “If we forgot the past, you’re committed to repeat again.”

The importance of civilian experiences and increasing awareness over the tragedies were driving elements for this installation, Escartiz said, and he noted it is often innocent women and children who suffer.   

The figure holding a flame-lit lamp out a window hangs externally above the Art Kiosk building, honoring the efforts of young people in the area who have gathered in Courthouse Square to rally against the ongoing wars. 

“We’re living during these terrible wars, but it’s also these people trying to help and trying to stop this kind of thing,” Escartiz said. “For me, people represent something like hop, or light in the darkness in the original painting.”

In the original painting, a bare light bulb in the shape of an all-seeing eye demands attention at the center of the piece. In Escartiz’s rendition, he changes the bulb into a camera lens, nodding to technology’s role in providing firsthand accounts of the destruction and chaos. 

“It’s about the very important work of the journalists,” he said. “And for the normal people, with a simple phone, they can immediately send a video or picture about what is really happening in that area.”

Translating the painting to sculpture was easy for Escartiz, who said he sees everything in the context of forms and figures. The hard part was dealing with the weight of it all. 

“It’s a strong feeling when you see the original painting, but when you are making these pieces, it’s more strong,” Escartiz said. “It was very emotional when I was working on it. Thousands of innocent people died, but especially [children].

This installation is the first time he has worked on something politically influenced — actually mirroring what art historians say of Picasso’s “Guernica” — but Escartiz said he felt as though there was no escaping the emotional impact invoked by the wars.

“I want to represent the horror of the wars,” he said. “We cannot see these things and do nothing. We cannot forget what happened in the past. That’s the goal for this work.” 

The sculpture installation will remain on display until July 21.