Janus

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Art · Subcategory: Sculpture · Year: 2021 · Authors: Martín Chirino

Janus is the name of the sculpture created by Gran Canarian sculptor Martín Chirino for his own funerary monument located in the Vegueta cemetery, as was his own wish before his death.   

The work is a representation of the god Janus from Roman mythology, deity of doors, beginnings, and endings. Although he has regularly been depicted with two faces looking to both sides of his profile, Chirino represents him here fully facing forward looking towards eternity. 

The piece belongs to the series Chronicles of the 20th Century and is, according to the artist's own Foundation, “the mature result of a work that has revolved around man without barely touching him; the union of the severity of metal, the precision of the lines, with the attribution of a personal identity... makes this series the expression of his maturity”.

Janus was installed in September 2021, two years after the artist's death. It is made of dark patinated bronze and rests on a sandstone pedestal from Arucas. It bears the epitaph: " Here rests the great blacksmith storyteller, forger of symbols. From the origin to the universe ".

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