- Ejercicio Barroco
is part of Juan Muñoz's early sculpture-installations of the 1980s. A period of his work during which the Spanish artist often used supports, rods and structures made of iron to convey the sensation of small theatrical scenario and the illusion of specific public or private spaces as towers, minarets, balconies and suspended staircases. Whether wall-mounted or directly laid on the floor, they evoke different perching sites and vantage points. For the ground pieces, the elevation is rendered by the use of skinny vertical iron rods.

As with two other 1984 pieces, the sculptor installed the vertical rods on flat iron uppercase letters as a ground support. For - Ejercicio Barroco,
the letters form the two words ERROR PESO. Appearing simultaneously backwards and upside down when facing the perched birds. With their black, grey and white colours, the two birds resemble some polar auks. The motif of the bird, despite being extremely rare in Muñoz's production - which focuses mainly on the human figure - is not unique to this - piece. It also appears in Lying Parrot (1989) and in a late installation entitled Chopping Block
, from 2001, the year of Muñoz's death. The installation also includes a wall-mounted iron spiral placed in front of the birds whose heads are oriented towards it, as if they were caught by the hypnotic circular motion-like shape. Despite their whimsical appearance, a certain sense of melancholy emanates from the birds and the enigmatic words to which they are connected.

Regardless of Muñoz's attraction for Minimalism, he developed a figurative and dramatic style imbued with narratives, realism and psychological inputs. Towards the different phases of his production, he consistently explored the dynamics of the gaze and the relation between the viewers, the displayed objects and the surrounding space.

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