The opening of the exhibition Goddesses of Nibiru will take place on Wednesday 30 September at 20:00h at the Miguel Marcos Gallery in Barcelona.
Romulo Royo presents works from his Goddesses of Nibiru collection, which centres on the sacred figure of the woman, the protagonist of these pieces. In this series, he explores the interplay between myth and reality, capturing both the delicacy and the strength embodied by the female form. He depicts beautiful, enigmatic features—and in some cases, veiled ones—as if they were a dream or an illusion. The attire and elements with which he adorns them are timeless, objects that may remind us of ancient civilisations, such as feathers and metal plate adornments, set against futuristic elements, such as strange hats and, in some cases, frames emitting light from the neck of one of these figures. He himself says: “The neck is communication and a connection between the interior and the exterior; it is the union of the spiritual body with the material, and I wanted to represent in these Goddesses a form of communication through the light emanating from the neck.”
Ink, acrylic and oil on canvas. 162.00 x 130.00 cm
Romulo Royo is interested and drives us closer to fantasy and science fiction of current theme, applying it to the world of painting. A personal and different view of the current topics of the art scene. He is attracted by universes that transport us to other worlds and timeless spaces, get out of everyday reality to immerse into the most enigmatic places that have always accompanied mankind.
He approaches his work from the premise of a figurative language marked by a primitive composition, treated at the same time with force in his brushstrokes and delicacy in the colors and veils that highlight the power wielded by his figures.
Mentions from very early moments he was attracted to get further away from the surrounding reality and venture into places closer to the chimera. It is not surprising that when he talks of some authors that have marked his childhood and with which he has grown names as Jodorowsky, who wrote the Incal along with drawings of Moebius, a story of science fiction thirty years ahead of our time to discuss the current structure of society and talk about the problems of today. Even today his eyes light up when he talks about films like Alien and Blade Runner of Ridley Scott, or the first trilogy of Star Wars by George Lucas, also the film Crash directed by David Cronenberg, a movie politically wrong which deals with sexual experimentation and excitement through car accidents. He also points out painters who have marked him, as Anselm Kiefer, H.R. Giger or Michelangelo among others. Romulo Royo has been always fascinated by the drawing, but after watching the film New York Stories composed by three short stories, particularly with Life Lessons directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Richard Price, at that moment he knew that what he wanted was to be a painter.
Ink, acrylic and oil on cloth over methacrylate. 153.00 x 123.00 cm
Ink, acrylic and oil on cloth over methacrylate. 153.00 x 123.00 cm
Royo brings its own aesthetic, centered on the gods who inhabit this planet called Nibiru, basing on Mesopotamian and Babylonian texts. According to these texts it is a planet in our solar system that orbits our star every 3600 years. Nibiru is the home of the gods, of the Anunnaki, or what is the same, winged beings.
It is curious that in the Mesopotamian mythology a division between the Sumerian and Semitic gods can be made. First there were the Sumerians gods that later were adapted by the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Arameans and Chaldeans (all them Semitic peoples), later from these sources other religions flow as Christian and Hebrew. They adapt gods like Enki, Enlil, An, Inanna to name a few. In some cases they have similar attributes in these last religions according to ancient texts, but adapted and named differently.
When the second year came the men had already exhausted the stored.
When the third year arrived the looks and the beauty of people were changed by the hunger. (…)
When the fifth year arrived, a daughter would look at her mother; A mother would not open the door to her daughter… When the sixth year arrived, they served a daughter for a meal,
– Atrahasis, Sumerian poem on the Creation and the Flood. 2nd Millennium. b.C. approximately.
