Untitled, Watercolor and Ink, 20 x 20 cm, 2004

In the Phaedrus, love appears as turbulent and overwhelming enough to deserve to be called ‘the divine madness’. Madness can be pathological, resulting from human infirmity. Or it can be, as all creative inspiration is, ‘a divine release of the soul from the yoke of custom and convention’.  True love is madness of the latter sort and it is highly desirable. When the enlightened spirit finally wrenches itself from the debasing but pervasive influence of the body, it seems to lose all sense of equilibrium. Actually, it is only regaining freedom and the true sanity of man. (Plato, 370 bc)

Marcos Castro’s work evokes what is constantly latent in all of us, the need of love, yes, but also, the need of taking of the mask, and accepting who we are, accepting that we are hurt and accepting when it’s over. Human feelings, in animal customs, a bird dressed like a bear, a bear taking of its bird mask, both tearing each other apart, destroying each other while holding hands. A bear, falling off from a reef, trying to reach the bird...  these series of drawings are like a quiet but disturbing walk on a park, while we think over how much true sanity and freedom do we want for our own lives.