Dibujos germinales. 50 artistas españoles. 1947-1998

14 october, 1998 - 11 january, 1999 /
Sabatini Building, Floor 3, Paper Gallery
Pepe Espaliú. Sin título. Diez últimos dibujos, 1993. Drawing. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía Collection, Madrid
Pepe Espaliú. Sin título. Diez últimos dibujos, 1993. Drawing. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía Collection, Madrid

The exhibition Dibujos germinales. 50 artistas españoles. 1947-1998 provides a general and previously unimagined vision of drawing in Spain during the second half of the twentieth century, through fifty artists from different generations (from Eduardo Chillida to Eva Lootz or from Luis Gordillo to Azucena Vieites). Because it is an extended period and a relatively common practice for most of the authors, there is a need to find a conceptual unity that seeks to convey a general idea and propose a systematic structure. Therefore, in this exhibition drawing does not appear as a technique, rule or discipline, but as a starting point -germination in the strict sense- to delve into the mechanisms of creation and try to go beyond the notion of sketch or preparatory study.

These days we are witnessing a clear and stimulating revitalisation of drawing, in parallel with the widespread use of the photography and new technologies, or media merger in media work. This is provoked when its operation is moved to the realm of thought. The base is in accepting the drawing as an area of exploration, where ideas are at the forefront, but also as a place where impulses flow, liberated from instructions and strategies.

The layout of the exhibition runs through eleven areas, each of which presents a field of analogies, symmetries and contrasts. The essence of these fields can be summed up in phases. At the beginning there is the dream universe, triggered by irrational forces that drive the hand (with pieces by Zush and Joan Ponç among others). Informalism, its repertory of forms and signs, gestural expression and spatial problems are the main themes in the second area, with Antonio, Saura, Manolo Millares, Antoni Tàpies and Luis Feito. The combination of the unpredictability of creation and the predictability of science in rational and mathematical conception, as well as an extreme formal reduction in the search for new perceptual and analytical issues arise from the hands of Paul Palazuelo, Elena Asins and Miguel Ángel Campano, among others.

Another way drawing is exhibited is through its use as a means of expression and language in personal journals, showing the absence of limits in imaginary spaces. Conversely, drawing seems far from theory, relevant because of its process based and mutable character. It can also serve as a link and vehicle between the author and their experience with the natural world, on recovering the lost unity between man and nature. At the same time it can be used in its most traditional way, to address subjects and classical genres but whose reworking leads to a synthesis close to ideality. It may also be the basis for symbolic or allegorical references to life and death, beauty and horror, for decoding the real sense of the world through imagination. Finally, the design can be approached from conceptual codes, by breaking through the constraints of paper and reaching an ideological condition.

All these sections, generated to encourage a sequence or fragmented vision, gain consistency at the end of the planned route by revealing different ways of conceiving drawing linked to artistic production.

Exhibition´s details

Organized by: 
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
Curatorship: 
Rosa Queralt
Exhibition Tour: 

Sala Amós Salvador, Centro Cultural Rioja, Logroño (February 25 - April 4, 1999); Museo de la Pasión, Valladolid (April 20 - May 23, 1999); Palacio Almudí, Murcia (November 5 - December 3, 1999); Centro Cultural Antiguo Instituto Jovellanos, Gijón (January 20 - March 5, 2000); Sprengel Museum, Hannover (September 10 - November 19, 2000)

Artists:
Rafael Agredano, Sergi Aguilar, Carlos Alcolea, Juan José Aquerreta, Eduardo Arranz-Bravo, Elena Asins, Miquel Barceló, Roberto Bergado, Berta Cáccamo, Miguel Ángel Campano, Yamandú Canosa, Joan Cardéis, Marta Cárdenas, Eduardo Chillida, Chema Cobo (José Manuel Cobo), Jordi Colomer, Pepe Espaliú, Jon Mikel Euba, Luis Feito, Carlos Franco Rubio, María Gómez, Curro González, Luis Gordillo, Joan Hernández Pijuan, Pello Irazu, Ángel Jové, Abraham Lacalle, Eva Lootz, Mireya Masó, Xisco Mensua, Manuel Millares, Juan Muñoz, Juan Navarro Baldeweg, Pablo Palazuelo, Carlos Pazos, Perejaume, Joan Ponç, Manolo Quejido, Manuel Saiz, Antonio Saura, Adolfo Schlosser, Eusebio Sempere, Soledad Sevilla, Susana Solano, Antonio Sosa, Antoni Tàpies, Jordi Teixidor, Patricio Vélez, Azucena Vieites, Zush (Alberto Porta Muñoz) View more