JUAN GENOVÉS (Valencia, 1930 - Madrid, 2020). "Reseña... Lot 90

JUAN GENOVÉS (Valencia, 1930 - Madrid, 2020). "Reseña 6", 1996. Oil on canvas. With label on the back of the Marlborough Gallery, New York. Signed and dated in the lower right corner. Size: 33 x 41 cm; 37 x 45 cm (frame). In the 90's Genovés worked on this type of composition without any elements of colour, simply with the contrast between black and white. He set up scenes through elements arranged in a circular composition. In many of these works the human figure can be seen, in a certain way distorted, however in this particular case the distortion goes much further, so that only the shape itself can be seen, without any details. In such a way that the viewer approaches totemic structures such as Stonehenge. One of the main exponents of the social-critical realism of the fifties, Juan Genovés trained at the Valencia School of Fine Arts and in 1955 he made his first trip to Paris. Over time his art would evolve along the lines of existentialism. A founding member of various groups, such as Los Siete, Parpalló and Hondo, after his 1965 exhibition at the Biblioteca Nacional, his so-called "political realism" made him a committed defender of freedom. His vision makes him truly unique; the human figure is always the protagonist, both in its presence and its absence and even in its shadows, in which all the dreamlike charge of existential anguish resides. Genovés starts from a photographic approach, looking for a constant transformation of the perspective of the motif, of the point of view. With this change of perspective the author brings us closer to or further away from the scene, looking for the movement of the masses guided by the collective, working class intelligence that gives transcendence to the meaninglessness of the individual experience and makes evident the loneliness, manipulation and injustice that human beings are exposed to. The artist criticises the mass culture that fosters competitiveness, consumerism, individuality and the loss of social values. Expressive in his use of pictorial formats and materials in contrast to the forcefulness of his subject matter, Genovés is symbolist in his composition and rhythms. In his work he constantly questions the freedom of man in today's society as well as his own freedom within his own production. More well known abroad than in our country, he has participated in numerous biennials such as the Hispano-American Biennials in Havana and Barcelona, the Paris Biennial and the World's Fair in New York. In 1994 the IVAM dedicated an important retrospective exhibition to him. He has had solo exhibitions all over Spain as well as in Puerto Rico, Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon, Rome, New York, Tokyo, Turin, Berlin, Montreal, Zurich, Bogota and Paris. Juan Genovés is present in the IVAM in Valencia, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the Juan March Foundation, the Centre National d'Art Contemporain in Paris, the MOMA in New York and the La Caixa, Argentaria and Thyssen-Bornemisza collections.