Art Madrid'23 – Alberto Corazón in Telefónica Foundation

 

 

Alberto Corazón, the most important Spanish artist and designer of our time shows his prolific career in the exhibition "Alberto Corazón. Design: The energy of graphic thought.1965-2015" , which can be visited in the Telefónica Foundation Space until 4 October.

 

Alberto Corazón (Madrid, 1942), painter, sculptor and designer, is one of the Spanish designers with more international projection. Corazón is important in the fields of graphic and industrial design, and he has received numerous awards (Arts Director Club of New York, the British Design and the Design Council International). In 1989 he received the National Design Award, and he is the only European designer with the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Graphic Arts.

 

 

 

The exhibition shows the creations of the artist and graphic designer from the 60s of last century to the present. Ana Arambarri, curator of the exhibition, has assembled a selection of works that are already key symbols of the Spanish culture: 132 posters, 115 images and sketches, 145 logos, objects and models. Pieces and art works that are recognized in the imaginary and the cultural memory of our country (Casa del Lector logo, corporative image of RENFE, sketches for the Phone Domo or posters for the Autumn Festival of Madrid, among others). The exhibition includes some films and audiovisual material, reinforcing the concept of design as a crucial ingredient for innovation and creativity.

 

 

 


Alberto Corazón considers designing as an intelligent activity, the result of reflection and thought, and he believes that excellence in this profession is on neurons, never in computing resources. In fact, the artist says: "The risk of design today is to forget about the functionality and accept the weight of aesthetics. In recent years, the computer mouse has replaced the pencil and nothing can be as before. In every sense, conceptually and formally. "

 

Several workshops for children, youth and adults related to the design, will be held alongside the exhibition. Within the sample itself, there will be an educational space, "The design calls you", in which the visitor can be converted, through a series of activities, in an authentic designer. In addition, on 17 and 22 September will be held two meetings with Alberto corazón, in which the artist will talk about different professional design and communication.

 

 

In the year 2020 in the heart of Barcelona a wandering gallery was born, the same one that in February 2021 would debut at Art Madrid with an exhibition proposal focused on contemporary portraits; with this subject matter it would manage to create a powerful dialogue between artwork and audience and make the seal Inéditad remain in the history of the event that contained it.

Jean Carlos Puerto. Protección. Oil and copper leaf on wood. 60 x 48. 2021. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Since that first time and until today, the wandering gallery has managed to build projects on otherness, has repositioned in the spotlight the discourses on the LGTBIQ+ collective, has consolidated a group of artists who share its principles of resilience and empathy and the best thing is that it continues to bet from the professionalism and commitment to give voice to the difference.

Claudio Petit-Laurent.. El Joven de la Perla. Oil on wood. 30 x 30 cm. 2023. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Inéditad Gallery, thanks to its founder Luis López, its collaborators and the infinite possibilities manifested in the works of the artists it represents, is a gallery that has demonstrated its capacity and courage to stimulate the sensibility of the public through art and seduce a generation that moves between the glass window and the analogical story. Inéditad is a nomadic gallery that has gathered around it a community of artists and has moved the context with exhibition projects that think about LGTBIQ+ art without prejudices.

Pepa Salas Vilar. Las marcas del arcoiris. Oil on canvas. 40 x 50 cm. 2022. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Pride and Prejudice was inaugurated. An exhibition that brings together the works of sixteen artists: Abel Carrillo, Alex Domènech, Carlos Enfedaque, Silvia Flechoso, Jamalajama, Daniel Jaén, Claudio Petit-Laurent, Jean Carlos Puerto, Fernando Romero, Pablo Rodríguez, Pepa Salas Vilar, Jack Smith, Pablo Sola, Bran Sólo, Elia Tomás and Utürüo. Painting, illustration, photography and digital art are the manifestations that bring into dialogue around fifty neatly threaded pieces, in a discursive line that discusses such a latent phenomenon as discrimination. To achieve this, the artists invited to the exhibition question themselves whether: Does discrimination exist within the LGTBIQ+ collective?

Pride and Prejudice Official Poster. Image courtesy of the gallery.

With approaches on and from the body, the proposal invites to celebrate diversity, proposes to question and self-question the prejudices and attitudes of society against the collective. Pride and Prejudice is a space for dialogue about the constructs imposed on us by society. It is also an oasis in which to deconstruct with tolerance and respect the subjectivities that sometimes prevent us from approaching the production of the participating artists, simply because "the beautiful" does not fit in an androgynous body. The subjugation of stereotypes are pressed with determination to find the beauty of diversity in other palpable facets of reality.

Pablo Sola. All men are dogs. Photography. 2014. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Throughout these three years Inéditad has stimulated the vindictive projection towards bad practices, has questioned estates around the LGTBIQ+ body and the most admirable thing, is that these capacities have resurfaced around the dialogue and the visual narrative of the stories that are told from the visual: Artworks that are people, art that is, per se, humanity. Overcome impositions and accept what is different in order to continue fighting against homophobia, biphobia, lesbophobia or transphobia and defend the equal rights that all the acronyms of the collective deserve in our community.

That's Pride and Prejudice: One creature, the happiest in the world. And maybe other projects and other people have said it - or felt it - before, but none so fairly.

Silvia Flechoso. Hola, soy maricón. Oil on canvas. 73 x 54 cm. 2023. Image courtesy of the gallery.

From June 8th until June 22nd you can visit Pride and Prejudice. Carrer de Palau núm. 4. Canal Gallery space. Barcelona.