Art Madrid'23 – Eugenio Forcano photographies exhibition in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando (Madrid).

Sin futuro, Barrio de Santa Caterina, Barcelona, 1964
Sin futuro, Barrio de Santa Caterina, Barcelona, 1964

The work of an almost obsessive, tireless observer, as was Eugeni Forcano can be seen until 31 August at the Museum of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. "CATCH LIFE. EUGENI FORCANO. PHOTOGRAPHS 1960-1974" is an exhibition of 150 photographs that portraits the chronicle our towns and cities. 

Pata que quiere tocar pierna, Banyoles, Girona, 1966
"Market Day", "Gypsy People", "Life on the Street", Eugeni Forcano conserves on his camera how life happens, everyday, with the talks under the doors, the buzzy markets, the squares, the neighborhood and corners... All these things are the fuel of his fascination with the common people and the main pillar of his photographs about the development of Catalonia, the contrast between the city and rural areas, the last years of the war and the "franquismo". 
 
Now the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando collect a good sample of the enormous work of the National Photography Prize 2012 "Catching life. Eugeni Forcano. Photographs 1960-1974 ". The selection of 150 photographs is done by the curator Daniel Giralt-Miracle, "highlights the work of which I think he is most proud because on one hand is the one that allowed him to devote himself to photography and on the other it is the brooch with which decided to close their career. "
 
Exaltación franquista, catedral, Barcelona, 1962
The exhibition includes the "Experimental Photography" section, with images taken between 1980 and 1995, when it was proposed to investigate the possibilities of color photography, with influences of surrealism and abstraction. In addition, a selection of magazines, books about his work and the chapter dedicated to him in the documentary series "The Voice of the image" complete the journey through the work of one of the foremost chroniclers of Spain in the last years of the war.
Por bulerías, Canet de Mar, Barcelona, 1963
Self-taught, born in Barcelona in 1926 and raised in Canet de Mar, Forcano wanted to know the world and on his path he met dozens of anonymous people that appear in his photos. He took a place in the news-weekly "Destino", recommended by Verges and Nestor Luján. 
 
Together with his brother opened Forcano studies, dedicated to portraiture, illustration, fashion and advertising. In 2005 he was awarded the Gold Medal of Barcelona and starred in the major retrospective "Eugeni Forcano. Photographs, 1960-1996. "In 2012 he received the National Prize for Photography and the Creu de Sant Jordi from the Generalitat de Catalunya. 
 
Oración en el desierto, Hogares Mundet, Barcelona, 1968

In his photographs, said Andres Trapiello, "the most important is the heartbeat of all that still lives", and that his characters "you can hear they talking", as Josep Maria Espinas said and as the art critic and curator Rosario Martínez Rochina remarks in her texts.

 
Confidencias, catedral, Barcelona, 1966

 

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.