Art Madrid'23 – THE INTERACTIVE ILLUSTRATION OF ANA JUAN

 

Drawing of Ana Juan


Ana Juan, Valencia 1961. She studied BBAA. In his native city, at the beginning of the XXI century it gave the international leap appearing even in the cover of the New Yorker. Also, in these same dates begins to experiment with the infantile literature, sort that continues practicing until our days. Already in 2010, she was awarded the National Enlightenment Award, consecrated as one of the most influential illustrators of our era. Now, the ABC Museum of Madrid dedicates this pioneering exhibition that breaks the exhibition limits.

 

View of the exhibition

 

 

Figures and chiaroscuro predominate in this graphic adventure, where the lights and the shadows are represented with rigorous strokes of coal pencil. This graphic-interactive challenge has been possible thanks to the collaboration with Unit Experimental (collaboration group between the Faculty of BBAA and the Higher Technical School of Informatics Engineering of the Polytechnic University of València). The result of this union, is the most futuristic individual exhibition to date in the capital.

 

View of the exhibition

 

 

The reinterpretation of their illustrations through an app makes them come to life. A new resource that can be downloaded on our smartphones and browse the different points of the room. They are operative for both Android and Iphone. And not only offers this technological immersion, but the exhibition offers other activities such as the guided tour of the exhibition with the artist, on 17 and 19 May at 18:30 (for this activity requires prior registration at the reception of the Museum).

 

 

Drawing of Ana Juan

 

 

The staging of two of his best-known books, such as, Another Turn of the Nut by Henry James and Snowhite's version of Snow White make it possible for the viewer to contemplate both the original canvases that served to illustrate the books, how to be part of the game Created from his illustrated story. The room is the scene of the game and its spectators the protagonists who will undoubtedly get a good impression of these drawings.

 

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.