COBO, José

Jose Cobo (Santander, 1958) claims to pursue an anthropological meditation, a search for the biological and primordial relationship in themes so common to our society such as loneliness, death, alienation,… Themes that are hidden under an image of apparent everyday life. This search for a hidden reality under the skin of appearance is what the insistent anatomical study of José Cobo’s sculptures tries to make us see: his interest in teaching the morphological; the relationship between hard materials, such as bone, and soft ones, such as skin, under which muscles and tendons can be guessed, is configured as a metaphor for this reflection on individual and social existence, and the awareness of a stark reality.

Jose Cobo graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1985 with a Master’s degree in Sculpture. Subsequently, in 1995, he obtained a Certificate in Art History and Criticism. He studied fresco painting and stone carving at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts. From 1994 to 1997 he taught at the Chicago Art Institute.
In his professional career of more than 25 years, José Cobo has participated in numerous exhibitions, both individual and collective. He has exhibited in cities such as Cologne, Munich and Berlin (Germany), and his presence in the United States in cities such as Miami, New York and Chicago, where he exhibits regularly, is noteworthy. He has participated in international fairs such as ARCOmadrid, MACO, PULSE New York, Art Chicago or Art Miami and his work is present in important public and private collections.
In addition, he has made numerous interventions in public spaces, such as the “Monument to the Fire and Reconstruction of 1941”, the “Dos Toros” at the gate of the Plaza de Vista Alegre in Madrid and “Los raqueros” on the seafront promenade in Santander.