Albert Bonet

Winner of the International Painting Prize in the Realism category at the latest edition of the FIABCN (Barcelona International Art Fair), Albert Bonet's work is characterized by an acid social criticism inspired by his closest surroundings. Through this interpretation of the world around him, this young artist shows both conceptual and technical maturity, which interferes with his work by playing with POP themes and with a markedly realistic style.

Artistically, he has been trained at the Barcelona Academy of Art. He has been selected in the DKV Young Art Contest ''Fresh Art'', where he was awarded an honorable mention at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (2015). This promising artist has two individual exhibitions to his credit, the last one last November at the Mutuo Gallery in Barcelona. He now exhibits for the first time in Art Madrid at the hands of Inéditad Galería (Barcelona).

Interview:

Tell us about your creative process

My creative process always starts with an idea, which I can come up with while walking down the street or in the bathroom of my colleague's house doing my business, and then I mature that idea for a few weeks, giving it shape, sketching a lot, and then I meet up with models, who are always people around me, my colleagues or people who are close to me, I do a photo session with them and then I edit those photos until I make a photographic montage that's quite close to the idea I had initially, always taking it to my own territory, adding social criticism, which, given the state of things in the world, is a lot of work. The last step is to paint in oils, give it shape, take the oils and lock yourself up at home until the idea comes out.

Albert Bonet

1984, 2022

Oil on canvas

162 x 130cm

What are you working on at the moment?

Right now I'm currently working on the piece I have behind me, which is a painting that I'm going to present at Art Madrid'22 with the gallery Inéditad, and the truth is that it's been quite a challenge because I have to finish it on time and I've locked myself up at home to paint for seven or eight hours a day until it's ready. Otherwise, it won't arrive in time for the catalogue and I have to make sure it gets there. Apart from that, this year is packed with a few urban art festivals with huge graffiti, a few exhibitions in a number of places. I'll keep you posted. There are several commissions for paintings, so the year is off to a great start, full of energy. Looking forward to it.

What do you expect from your participation in Art Madrid?

Exhibiting at Art Madrid is a dream come true for me. I've been locked up at home for a long time, mentally beating myself up, painting all day long, and to be able to take my work out of Barcelona for me is already a huge dream come true. It fills me with enthusiasm and energy to continue painting and I hope to give visibility to my work, above all outside Barcelona, and step by step, to be able to make a living from it.

Albert Bonet

La Duquesa de Sants, 2021

Oil on canvas

81 x 59cm

What inspires you when creating?

When it comes to creating, what inspires me most is my surroundings, all my surroundings. The places I go to, the objects I use every day in my house, my friends, my mates' houses, the city where I live, the cities I go to most frequently, everything that surrounds me. My everyday life is what inspires me when I create.

You are a multidisciplinary artist who started out in graffiti and tattooing. What have these two disciplines contributed to your work as a painter?

Graffiti, tattooing and painting are artistic facets that complement each other perfectly because you can apply concepts from each of them to the other. In the end they all have an individual magic that fills me a lot and I never want to stop doing any of them.

Albert Bonet participates for the first time in Art Madrid with Inéditad gallery, along side with Jaime Sancorlo, Jordi Diaz Alàma, Lautaro Oliver, Núria Farré y Raúl Álvarez Jiménez.

The work of Julian Manzelli (Chu) (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1974) is situated within a field of research in which art adopts methodologies close to scientific thinking without renouncing its poetic and speculative dimension. His practice is structured as an open process of experimentation, in which the studio functions as a laboratory: a space for trial, error, and verification, oriented less toward the attainment of certainties than toward the production of new forms of perception. In this sense, his work enters into dialogue with an epistemology of uncertainty, akin to philosophical traditions that understand knowledge as a process of becoming rather than closure.

Manzelli explores interstitial zones, understood as spaces of transit and transformation. These ambiguous areas are not presented as undefined but as potential—sites where categories dissolve, allowing the emergence of hybrid, almost alchemical configurations that reprogram the gaze. Geometry, far from operating as a normative system, appears tense and destabilized. His precarious constructions articulate a crossing between intuition and reason, play and engineering, evoking a universal grammar present in both nature and symbolic thought. Thus, Manzelli’s works do not represent the world but rather transfigure it, activating questions rather than offering closed answers.

Avícola. Escultura magnética. Madera, imanes, laca automotriz y acero. 45 x 25 cm. 2022.

Science and its methods inspire your process. What kinds of parallels do you find between scientific thinking and artistic creation?

Science and art are two disciplines that I believe share a great deal and are undoubtedly deeply interconnected. I am interested in that point of intersection, and although they are often placed in opposition, I think they share a common origin. Both involve a continuous search, a need for answers that stems from curiosity rather than certainty, and that often—or in many cases—leads both artists and scientists into uncomfortable, uncertain positions, pushing them out of their comfort zones. I believe this is a fundamental and very compelling aspect shared by these two disciplines, which in some way define us as human beings.

In this sense, both share experimentation as a core axis of their practice. Trial and error, testing, and the entire process of experimentation are what generate development. In my case, this applies directly to the studio: I experience it as a laboratory where different projects are developed and materials are tested. It is as if one formulates a hypothesis and then puts it to the test—materials, procedures, forms, colors—and outcomes emerge. These results are not meant to be verified, but rather, in art, I believe their function is to generate new modes of perception, new ways of seeing, and new experiences.

Receptor Lunar #01. Ensamble de Madera Reciclada torneada. 102 x 26 x 26 cm. De la serie Fuerza orgánica. 2023.

You work within the interstices between the natural and the artificial, the figurative and the abstract. What interests you about these ambiguous zones, and what kinds of knowledge emerge from them?

I have always been quite restless, and that has led me to immerse myself in different fields and disciplines. I believe there is a special richness in interstitial spaces—in movement back and forth, in circulation between media. These spaces have always drawn my attention: ambiguous places, hybrid zones. There is something of an amphibious logic here—amphibians as entities that carry and transmit information, that share, that cross boundaries and membranes. In my case, this is closely linked to what I understand as freedom, especially at a time marked by categorization, labeling, and a profound distortion of the very concept of freedom.

On another level, more metaphysical in nature, it is within the mixture—within that blending—that the living energy of creating something new appears, which is undoubtedly a fundamental aspect of what it means to be human. It is as if “one thing becomes something else outside the mold.” This interaction is necessary to break structures, to build new ones, to transmute—to undergo something almost alchemical. I believe fixation is the enemy. In a way, ambiguity is what allows us to reprogram our gaze and generate new points of view.

De la serie Naturaleza orgánica. Madera torneada recuperada de podas de sequía y rezagos de construcción. 2025.

Movement, repetition, and sequence appear as visual strategies in your work. What role does seriality play in the generation of meaning?

Movement, repetition, and sequence are very present in my work. I have a long background in animation, and in some way that interest begins to filter into the other disciplines in which I work. Thus, movement also appears in my visual art practice.

Seriality is a way of thinking about time and of introducing a certain narrative and sense of action into the work, while at the same time conditioning the viewer’s experience. It invites the viewer to try to decipher repetition as a kind of progression. I am particularly interested in more abstract forms of narrative. In this type of narrative, where there is no clear figuration, repetition begins to establish a pulse, a “beat” that marks the passage of time. What is interesting, I think, is the realization that repetition is not exactly duplication, and that what seems identical begins to mutate over time, through rhythm, or through its own unfolding history.

De la serie Naturaleza orgánica. Madera torneada recuperada de podas de sequía y rezagos de construcción. 2025.

You work with geometric and constructive systems. What role does geometry play as a symbolic language within your practice?

Geometry is present in my work in multiple forms and dimensions, generating different dynamics. Generally, I tend to put it into crisis, into tension. When one engages closely with my works, it becomes clear that constructions based on imprecise and unstable balance predominate. I am not interested in symmetry or exactness, but rather in a dynamic construction that proposes a situation. I do not conceive of geometry as a rigid system.

I believe this is where a bridge is established between the intuitive and the rational, between playfulness and engineering—those unexpected crossings. At the same time, geometry functions as a code, a language that connects us to a universal grammar present in nature, in fractals, and that undoubtedly refers to symbolism. It is there that an interesting portal opens, where the work begins to re-signify itself and becomes a process of meaning-making external to itself, entirely uncertain. The results of my works are not pieces that represent; rather, I believe they are pieces that transfigure and, in doing so, generate questions.

WIP. Madera torneada recuperada de podas de sequía y rezagos de contrucción. 2022.

To what extent do you plan your works, and how much space do you leave for the unexpected—or even for error?

In terms of planning, it depends greatly on the project and even on the day. Some projects, due to their scale or complexity, require careful planning, especially when they involve the participation of other people. In many cases, planning is undoubtedly essential.

That said, in the projects I do plan, I am always interested in leaving space for improvisation, where chance or the unfolding of the process itself can come into play. I believe this is where interesting things begin to emerge, and it is important not to let them pass by. Personally, I would find it very boring to work on pieces whose outcome I already know in advance. For me, the realization of each work is an uncertain journey; I do not know where it will lead, and I believe that is where its potential lies—not only for me, but also for the work itself and for the viewer’s experience.