Pablo Barreiro: Qué Fica?

In “Qué Fica?”, Galician artist Pablo Barreiro (Meaño, Pontevedra, 1982) reflects on the nature of permanence, transformation, and cultural transmission through the language of ceramics. Porcelain, both fragile and enduring, becomes the medium through which he questions what remains unchanged when symbols and codes evolve.

Barreiro’s work draws on the long history of porcelain, from its early production in China around 1700 BCE to the blue-and-white tradition that spread globally during the Ming dynasty. By using cobalt blue, a pigment deeply rooted in Portuguese heritage and tile-making, the artist evokes processes of cultural exchange, imitation, and appropriation that shaped both Eastern and Western identities.

In this exhibition, Barreiro reinterprets road signage — arrows, triangles, warning diagonals and circular symbols — translating these visual codes into sculptural porcelain forms. The reliefs absorb and diffuse cobalt gradients across textured surfaces of spikes, ridges and mesh, transforming everyday signs into objects of contemplation.

Through seriality, repetition and imitation, Barreiro challenges Western ideals of originality, proposing instead a dialogue with the mutable and the reproducible. “Qué Fica?” meditates on the traces that endure through change, suggesting that in transformation itself lies the essence of permanence.