It seems that contemporary art has reflected on the individual's relationship with the environment, focusing on the modification of nature, the invasion, the occupation, the appropriation and the limitation. The construction of walls, the erection of buildings, the urbanisation of the scene... are themes today intimately connected with other major concerns of our time, such as global warming or the overexploitation of resources. This trend shows an adaptation of artistic language to the technological dictates of our time, and recurring use of materials, disciplines and techniques that incorporate a great visual load while delving into a message of denunciation, which goes beyond aesthetic impositions.

Wilbur Streech, “Hidden Lagoon”

The prioritisation of discourse has displaced the traditionally reigning composition. We are in the era that formalism has lost its validity, and attention shifts to eclecticism, reuse and narrative value. The majority of contemporary art appears as a medium that channels the criticism of our time, which condenses the concern of the new generations, the pessimist vision before an uncertain future and the questioning of the values of a conformist, well-off and consumerist society.

Hiroko Otake, “Memory of red rose”, 2008

Despite this, some authors continue to resort to more traditional elements to condense their expressive desires. The banishment of beauty as a motive and purpose in art has given way to creations that, while incorporating technologies available to everyone and employing a closer language, do not have the aesthetics among their discursive priorities. However, the commitment to more classic scenes and compositions is a rara avis that renews the inherited pictorial legacy and is a way to recover a less intervened approach to the environment. At the same time, the return to the landscape serves to value nature and generate a sense of responsibility for its care and conservation.

Wilbur Streech, “August Sun”, 1980

The work of Wilbur Streech (Fullerton, California, 1914) and Hiroko Otake (Tokyo, 1980) explores this trend. Although for the latter, the influence of traditional Japanese art is somewhat expected, we can also see Japanese reminiscences in Streech's work. In both cases, the landscape and flora become the central motif for artistic proposals that seek serenity and the balance of spirit through natural contemplation. The predominance of transparencies, the superposition of layers and soft tones create an atmosphere of meditation and mysticism. Their work invites us to enjoy direct contact with the environment, the pure experience of observation and silence.

Hiroko Otake, “The form of beginning”, 2016

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.