Art Madrid'23 – CURRENT VISIONS OF POP CULTURE

Hispánica Contemporánea, Barrou Planquart, 3 punts and Norty Galleries

 

It is well known that since the mid-twentieth century, a large group of British and American artists responded to the gravitas and authority of Abstract Expressionism, so clinging to the trauma of World War II, with a totally opposite type of art: Pop art. The same happened in the national context because the transcendental shapes of Informalism would give way to the most vital expressions of the “narrative figuration” movement. This is how new iconographies and languages emerged from the mass media, the "pop culture" and the thriving consumer society, particularly figurative and characterized by the intensity of colour.

Mel Bochner

Meaningless, 2015

Monotype with collage, engraving and reliefs on Twinrocker paper

131 x 119cm

Although more playful and often only focused on the representation of a specific aesthetic, many of the pop works also had a critical intention and, perhaps, this is one of the most defining features of the Pop art continuing movements. From the neo-pop of the eighties until the present time, many contemporary artists continue to expand this path opened by Richard Hamilton, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg, among many others.

Paul Rousso

Four Flavor Crush, 2018

Mixed technique

89 x 107cm

An excellent representation of contemporary Pop art can be found in the space that Art Madrid will have in the Hispánica Contemporánea Gallery (Madrid-Mexico City). Within its broad proposal, the following stand out: North American artists or creators based in the United States, many of them consolidated such as Mel Bochner, of whom the gallery will exhibit a selection of famous monotypes made from collage, stamping and the relief, from which the artist continues to send powerful messages from the vigour of the word, its typography and the contrast of colour. The works by Paul Rousso are still impressive creations; the artist who, through his particular technique "Flat Depth" -based on different tamperings and techniques with which two-dimensional objects acquire three-dimensions-, will once again show the sensuality of the wrinkled and oversized waste, the visual strength that can exist in any depreciated magazine, ticket or package.

Peter Anton

Splendor Variety, 2017

Mixed technique

90 x 90cm

Mr. Brainwash

Einstein, 2016

Mixed media on canvas

51 x 51cm

You can also enjoy the immense sweets of Peter Anton or celebrate life with the latest works by the popular Mr.Brainwash (Thierry Guetta), whose enthusiastic motto is "life is beautiful". Elevated to fame for his starring role in the fake (or not) documentary led by Banksy, "Exit through the Gift Shop" (2010), Guetta continues using appropriation, graffiti and icon or "celebrity" character to send good vibrations. Much more critical and satirical is the work of Fidia Falaschetti, an artist who literally dismantles popular characters and objects inviting us to rethink our consumption habits, those so close to a kind of naturalized schizophrenia.

Hispánica will also present pieces from the great Manolo Valdés, who since 1964, as a member of El Equipo Crónica, stood out for his most critical and ludic pop art, always specialized in the Spanish painting masters. Also, the gallery will present the mysterious sculptures by Xavier Mascaró; the geometric and vital pieces by Rafael Barrios; or the magnificent works by Hugo Fontela, made with a marked personality and surprising sensibility.

François Bel

Adios Trump Break the wall, 2018

Acrylic glass

27 x 18cm

Very pop and more urban is the selection of the gallery directed by Virginie Barrou Planquart (Montlignon), very interested in spreading a "positive aesthetic". From François Bel you can see some of his striking "Big Bangs", daydreams characteristic of our current way of life, so individualistic and materialistic, frozen in movement inside synthetic glass urns. Industrial materials also stand out in the works of Grégory Watin, created from a more urban and gestural point of view.

Stéphane Gautier

Follow your heart, 2018

Mixed media

80 x 80cm

Graffiti, photography and collage dominate Jo Di Bona's works, a renowned urban artist who is presented as a "Fauvist of modern times". Finally, the Barrou Planquart selection closes with works by the designer Stéphane Gautier in which he appropriates the imaginary and childish codes to convey positive messages but not without some reflection on advertising strategies.

Alejandro Monge

Suitcase, 2018

Fiberglass, pencil and paper

77 x 44cm

Nick Veasey

Easy Listener, 2018

Photography on DIASEC

150 x 119cm

In the wide range of the gallery 3 punts (Barcelona) you will discover a variety of languages and techniques that could be linked to Pop Art. From the revival of the more eighties Neo-pop starring iconic characters behind colourful backgrounds, Silvio Alino, to the multicoloured iconography so characteristic of Okuda San Miguel, Guest Artist of the last edition of Art Madrid. Popular culture or daily life also star in the surprising pieces by Nick Veasey, a pioneer in risky creation through x rays; as well as the appropriations of everyday objects made by Alejandro Monge, a well-known artist at Art Madrid for his provocative and critical accumulations of money bills.

Gerard Mas

Call Center Lady, 2016

Polychrome alabaster

48 x 38cm

Samuel Salcedo

Hey Mickey, 2018

Polychrome resin

33 x 15cm

Some of the realistic sculptures of the expert Gerard Mas although maybe not so at first glance, give a feeling of urban or pop art. From Renaissance ladies turned call center ladies, rats or dogs on pedestals to sheep sheared in a capricious way in order to pay homage to Malevich. Two other masters of sculpture are Samuel Salcedo, whose resin sculptures impress both for their hyperrealism and for their message; and Kiko Miyares, an artist also focused on the representation, and deformation, of the human figure through woodwork. And if we continue discussing master’s technique, Ramon Surinyac also stands out in the pictorial field throw his beautiful landscapes.

L'homme Jaune

Syria, 2017

Acrylic on canvas

100 x 100cm

In the Norty Gallery (Carrières-sur-Seine) the most pop proposal comes from L'homme Jaune (Yasser Ameur) and his simple but transgressive designs, such as "Syria" (2017), "Ceci est une fontaine 2" (2017) or "Connected people" (2017). Especially unsettling is the rest of the selection, more related to "raw expressionism". Inside its stand, the disturbing and attractive, sculptures, born from the imagination of Pierre Sgamma will be presented; also the paintings of Adlane Samet, who defines himself as a "painter of the moment". Closer to Art Brut, Samet's work impacts equally as much for its expressive and personal language, as for its narrative, mostly dark and cryptic.

Rusudan Khizanishvili

Conversion Device II, 2017

Acrylic on canvas

150 x 150cm

The work by Jean-Pierre Ruel also sends a certain restlessness, starring lonely and mysterious characters framed in gloomy scenarios. Norty's selection closes with the colouring contrast of the paintings by Rusudan Khizanishvili, author of compositions closer to abstraction in which, nevertheless, the figurative referent is never forgotten. The intelligent use of colour gives the overlapping forms a great emotional and enigmatic charge, enhancing the complex and fantastic ideology of the artist.

In short, a set of singular works, very different pieces in their expression forms, but in which, in one way or another, the limits of contemporary art are renewed and extended.

 

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.