Art Madrid'23 – De Chirico in Barcelona: his artistic career in 150 arworks

 

 

The Enigma of a day, 1914

 

 

 

Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978), italian painter original from Greece, studied in Greece, Italy and Germany. Among others, he was influenced by ancient greco-roman civilisation, Renaissance architecture and by Nietzsche and Schopenhauer philosophy. He kept himself apart from parisian avant-gardes in order to develop his own artistic style.

 

 

 

The appearance (drawing), 1917

 

 

 

He was a pioneer in Metaphysics painting, that recreated mysterious atmospheres by situating common objects out of their contexts. Metaphysic painting was the Surrealism predecessor, it reminds Dali´s paintings. Gloomy, melancholic, devastating scenes where sharp perspectives suggest irreal shadows. There, there is no trace of life or people but classical sculpture and mannequins that convey a feeling of loneliness and silence. De Chirico lived in Ferrara, Italy, that became a ‘metaphysic city´. Chirico´s partners in this current were his own brother Alberto Savinio (Andrea De Chirico) and his friend Carlo Carrá.

 

 

 

The disquieting muses, 1917

 

 

 

The exhibition, organized in cooperation with the ‘Giorgio e Isa de Chirico Foundation´, is curated by Katherin Robinson, from this Foundation, and by Mariastella Margozzi, from the National Gallery (Roma). It is based on six thematic areas that involve the key points of De Chirico´s career, one of the most relevant painters in 20th century. The themes he works on are metaphysics, classical iconography, portraits and urban landscapes, studies about great masters of art and the neo-metaphysics, from which he reinterprets his first artworks, being inspired by Niestzche´s eternal return concept.

 

 

 

 

The disquieting muses (guilded bronze), 1968

 

 

 

In parallel with the exhibition, other educational activities can be enjoyed at CaixaForum Barcelona, such us one talk with the curators or guided visits to adults or families. De Chirico´s artwork will be exhibited until the 22nd of October.

 

 

 

The Dioscuri, 1974

 

 

 

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.