In his series “Black Rain”, the artist Avelino Sala (Gijón, 1972) criticizes the economic theory of value through an articulation of different symbolic elements that are made explicit in his work: the Gold Standard that served as a monetary support in many countries from the 19th century until the rise of the Second World War; the currency of the US dollar that has become the quintessential global currency; and oil, which is represented here as bloodstains, under which countless wars and violence have been justified for the accumulation of wealth and control. To these dimensions is added a meta-comment on the value of the work of art. Despite its critical nature, this piece does not escape the fetishism of merchandise and the disproportion of value between exchanges of cultural and symbolic capital in the contemporary art market.
Avelino Sala is one of the most important Spanish referents of political resistance through art. In his production a kind of poetry is present which contains a deep reflection about the state powers and the control that they exercise.
