Art Madrid'25 – First retrospective of Wang Guangyi in Europe

 

 

Wang Guangyi is the "other" artist icon of Chinese contemporary art and now has his first retrospective in Europe, in the halls of MAC a Coruna entitled The Relics of believers.

 

 

 

 

With his work analyzes the revolutionary power of the image, a common tool to all civilizations, and so in the exhibition there are a lot of references to political posters, religious imagery, photographs of the star system, a collection of images in which it finally reflects the concept of faith, as a unifying homogenizer engine for the societies that is common to the most diverse civilizations.

 

 

 

 

The exhibition of MAC, Museum of Contemporary Art Gas Natural Fenosa A Coruna, offers a unified experience to understand the production and full life of the author in an environment of concentration and meditation.

 

 

"This anthology serves as a synthesis of 30 years of work, ranging from his first series of 1985 entitled 'The back of humanity', to 'The relics of believers', a work of this summer, made for exposure and that entitled the sample. Galician art critic Anton Castro, one of the curators of the exhibition, explains: "The intention was to present this together as a single body and not as a gallery of works in chronological order," he adds.

 

 

 

Wang Guangyi (Harbin, China, 1957) was born into a humble family and suffered the rigors of Mao's Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) being enlisted in the Red Guard, labeled "intellectual" and sentenced to a reeducation camp. As an adult, it is one of the biggest names of the socalled Movimiento 85, humanist and renewing movement  born with the aim of revolt against a stagnant culture, provoke desire to live and establish a new spiritual model.

 


The exhibition includes representative works of his career, among which, the paintings of the Great Criticism series in which colorful images of Maoist propaganda mixes with Western well known logos and trademarks in an exercise in paradox in which politics, religion and capitalism are suggested as ways to improve our lives. In MAC you can also see his first paintings - with a cold and faceless humanity-, works of this year - a reinterpretation of Don Quixote- and, of course, the installation Relics of Believers, created especially for this exhibition and that gathers images of political leaders like John F. Kennedy or Mao Zedong with samples of uniforms.

 

Wang Guangyi has exhibited in many of the most prestigious museums of contemporary art in the world, as the Centre Pompidou in Paris or the Saatchi Gallery of London and has a great commercial success since the early 90s of last century.

From July 7 to 9, 2025, the Balsera Palace will host the First Course on Collecting and Contemporary Art, an intensive 15-hour program that will explore the complex and fundamental question of taste in contemporary art. Organized by the Nebrija Institute of Arts and Humanities at Nebrija University and the Avilés City Council, in collaboration with 9915 — Association of Private Collectors of Contemporary Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art, the course offers a unique opportunity for analysis and debate on the dynamics that shape aesthetic and symbolic value in today’s art scene.


First Course on Collecting and Contemporary Art. Avilés, Asturias


The notion of taste, intrinsically tied to aesthetic judgments and power relations, has played a decisive role in the historical prominence of artists and artworks. However, contemporary art—marked by its breaking of conventions, diversity of media and techniques, and critical stance toward traditional canons—raises fundamental questions about the continued relevance of this concept.

This course will explore how the decisions made by key players in the art system—institutions, private collections, galleries, curators, and artists—continually redefine a field of taste shaped by aesthetic, symbolic, cultural, social, and political logics.


"¿But does it exist, and what is the prevailing taste of our time—so seemingly confused, fragmented, indecipherable?" - Omar Calabrese, The Neo-Baroque Era.


The academic program, directed by José Luis Guijarro Alonso, Director of the Master’s in Art Market and Related Business Management at Nebrija University, and Pablo Álvarez de Toledo, Head of the Department of Arts at Nebrija University and the Nebrija Institute of Arts and Humanities, will bring together a distinguished group of national experts—including collectors, critics, curators, gallery owners, and artists—whose contributions will address key issues in shaping aesthetic, symbolic, and market value in today’s art world.


PROGRAM

MONDAY, JULY 7

9:30 AM Registration.

10:00 AM Course Opening Nebrija University Avilés City Council Presented by Rosario López Meras – President of the Association of Contemporary Art Collectors, 9915, and Adrián Piera – President of the ICA, Institute of Contemporary Art.

10:30 AM Course Presentation By José Luis Guijarro Alonso – Art Historian and Anthropologist, Researcher, and Director of the Master’s in Art Market and Related Business Management at Nebrija University.

11:00 AM Coffee Break.

11:30 AM Panel Discussion The Taste of Private Collecting as a Prelude to History. Speakers: Candela Álvarez Soldevilla – Entrepreneur and Collector; Javier Quilis – INELCOM Collection; José Miguel Vegas Valle – Collector. Moderator: Luis Feás – Critic and Curator.

1:00 PM Lunch Break.

3:30 PM Individual Lecture On Good Taste in Contemporary Art. Speaker: Marisol Salanova – Curator and Art Critic, Director of Arteinformado.

4:45 PM Panel Discussion The Influence of Galleries in Shaping Contemporary Taste. Speakers: Elba Benítez – Gallerist; Ricardo Pernas – Gallerist (Arniches 26); Aurora Vigil-Escalera – Gallerist. Moderator: Rafael Martín – Coleccion@casamer.

6:00 PM End of Day.

6:30 PM Activity and Cocktail Visit to the Exhibition Asturian Artists in the Pérez Simón Collection – Avilés.

TUESDAY, JULY 8

10:00 AM Individual Lecture Contemporary (Bad) Taste: Kitsch, Camp, and Tacky. Speaker: Julio Pérez Manzanares – Autonomous University of Madrid.

11:00 AM Coffee Break.

11:30 AM Panel Discussion Institutions and the Formation of Contemporary Taste. Speakers: Virginia López – Artist, Founder of PACA_Proyectos Artísticos Casa Antonino; Julieta de Haro – Artistic Director of CentroCentro; Carlos Urroz – Director of Institutional Relations, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Moderator: Laura Gutiérrez – Director, School of Art of Oviedo.

1:00 PM Lunch Break.

3:30 PM Panel Discussion Beyond the Eye: The Taste for Ethical, Ecological, Social, or Political Concerns in Contemporary Art. Speakers: Semíramis González – Independent Curator; Eugenio Ampudia – Artist; Claudia Rodríguez-Ponga – Independent Curator. Moderator: Bárbara Mur Borrás – PhD in Fine Arts.

5:00 PM End of Day.

5:30 PM Activity Visit to the Studiolo Exhibition – Candela Álvarez Soldevilla Collection.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9

9:30 AM Meeting with Asturian Artists Speakers: María Castellanos – Artist; Avelino Sala – Artist; Consuelo Vallina – Artist. Moderator: Pablo Álvarez de Toledo – Nebrija University.

11:00 AM Activity Visit to the Niemeyer Center – Avilés.

Course Closing Ceremony.





This course is designed for art professionals, collectors, researchers, and students seeking an in-depth analysis of the dynamics that shape taste and collecting practices in contemporary art. Adopting a critical and multidisciplinary perspective, it provides a unique opportunity to rigorously examine the aesthetic, symbolic, and structural factors that underpin the legitimization of contemporary art.