↑ Alfonso Albacete / Primer Ulises. Bodegón con Limones / 1980
The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid, Spain) is currently showing a colourful and positive exhibition, Idea: Painting-Force. The Hinge Between the 1970s and 1980s, which is adding a touch of optimism and colour to the gloomy winter.
The works on display were painted by five Spanish artists — Alfonso Albacete, Miguel Ángel Campano, Ferrán García Sevilla, Juan Navarro Baldeweg y Manolo Quejido — during the trasicion to democracy, that critical period in the recent history of Spain whose positive changes can be perceived in the optimistic and colorful spirit of this group of paintings. After the Experimentalism of the 70s, these five artists looked back on the avant-garde tradition (Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso) and the American Abstract Expressionism (De Kooing, Motherwell, Jasper Johns), following different personal approaches —Albacete`s stunning colourful geometry; García Sevilla`s mixture of image and language; Quejido`s preference for the human figure, etc… — which, none the less, share that energy, force and hopefulness.
↑ Alfonso Albacete / Ventana de Levante / 1980
↑ Ferrán García Sevilla / Adan i Eva / 1980
↑ Manolo Quejido / El Parto / 1978
↑ Juan Navarro Baldeweg / Lluvia, 1980 / Lunas & Lunas, 1981
↑ Alfonso Albacete / Ulises III. Naturaleza Muerta con Limones / 1981