Art Madrid'23 – From Divisionism to Futurism in Fundación Mapfre.

 

 

 

Until 5 June, the Mapfre Foundation give us the opportunity to know a little more about a crucial time in the history of Italy, from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth, when the political, economic and social situation in the country suffered a deep crisis that largely determined their concept of nation facing the nearby World War. Likewise, artists imbibed the prevailing reality and made with his works a tribute to his people, to their hardships, and many of them with an intense political life.

 

 

 

 

The exhibition 'From Divisionism to Futurism. Italian art to modernity ', organized in collaboration with the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto, includes 78 pictures in 5 sections, and discusses how Italian painters find a style that flows naturally in the vanguards of the twentieth century. Futurism and divisionism thus define the birth of modern Italian painting.

 

 

 

 

In a first time, artists are profoundly influenced by impressionism and pointillism, but they evolved the style by the descomposition of the paint in 3 primary colors creating a vibrant unsurpassed effect. Divisionism was borned. Their themes reflect natural landscapes and popular scenes (dances, maternities ...) until they begin to notice the cities and the social inequalities, the idea of ??transformation and future.

 

 

The outbreak of the workers' struggle and social protest in the Italian economic capital acts as a shock to many artists who are impelled to spearhead the revolution. A success case was Futurism, which emerged around Marinetti's manifesto in which he inviting the break, violence and industrialization as the solution of all problems on the eve of the Great War. Among the artists who joined this movement were Boccioni, Carra and Balla.
 

 

 

 

The movement, speed, light and color were symbols of modern life and this momentum strengthened the idea of a ??young, strong and united nation. Futurism, one of the leading avant-garde beginning of the twentieth century, would lead to a purely abstract and contemporary aesthetic without ever forgetting his membership in the representation of light and color.

 

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.