Under Cover: Four States of Privacy
DONATION ACTILIBRE FOUNDATION
CONTEMPORARY ART COLLECTION OF THE REGIONAL GOVERNMENT OF MADRID
Under Cover: Four States of Privacy brings together works by over 40 artists from the Print Collection owned by the Regional Government of Madrid. Curated by Ingráfica, the International Contemporary Art Print Festival, it highlights the unique aspects in the language of different authors whose work revolves around a common theme. Regardless of their period or the techniques adopted by each artist, the exhibition explores the expressions which, through the medium of graphic art, reveal the dual conceptual dimension of physical and mental space.
The venue for the show (the mansion building that houses the Centro Dos de Mayo in Móstoles) offers an intimate exhibition concept conducive to reflection, and accommodates all the works naturally under the same physical roof. The different spaces are generated by altering the degree of privacy. Thus, it is possible to travel from the physical plane, related to the body, to the private plane of the home, the interpersonal plane of society or the material/institutional plane of the economy or culture; but always on the basis of inter-dependent notions of the individual.
Following this line of exploration, Under Cover: Four States of Privacy is articulated around four clearly differentiated private moments:
Inside Silence focuses on the aspects that alienate the individual from his environment (loneliness, fear, frustration). It begins with the emphatic Hombre lámpara by Bernardí Roig and among other works includes Juan Pablo Villalpando’s bucolic, deserted landscapes, Juan Moro’s blind repetition with his 125 bombas sobre nada, and the series Proyectos imaginados, no olvidados by Mónica Sotos.
The second state, Wishes, Fantasies, exposes the deep yearnings that unfold in the strictest privacy and dwell in the Freudian subconscious. This section flows from the archetypal representations of Sweet Baby models by Ana de Matos, José María Sicilia’s sexual flowers and Juan José Gómez Molina’s triptych Sueño de la piel to the hallucinations of Martín Chirino and Juan Ugalde in their respective works Herramienta poética inútil and Puente.
My Map of the World is about the association of certain physical or mental places with integration in the community and belonging to a specific region. The physical ones are captured in pieces such as Continente II by Iván Larra, while the mental ones are exemplified in the work of, to cite just one artist, Josechu Dávila. The two pieces by Marta Cárdenas, Tras la vidriera azul, close the symbolic circle.
The fourth state, The Book is the Place, comprises a selection of books and folders containing prints by different artists. These demonstrate the close relationship between graphic art and literature, as illustrated in Luis Moro’s Bestiario del Dioscórides and Max Ernst’s Les chiens ont soif. The publications also reveal the creative liberty and broad range of formats that can be found in El libro es el lugar and El mundo del ritmo by Carlos Pazos, qualities that enable the books to become a tool connecting the artist's message to the spectator/reader's private space.
The works featured in this show all belong to the Contemporary Art Collection of the Regional Government of Madrid, which since 1997 has gradually incorporated graphic art. This is primarily thanks to the donations that have arisen from agreements since 2002 between the Deputy President’s Office, Ministry for Culture and Sport and Government Spokesperson's Office and the Actilibre Foundation, the promoter of ESTAMPA (the International Print and Contemporary Art Editions Fair) and, to a lesser degree and in collaboration with the Temas de Arte Foundation, the organiser of Edición Madrid (The Festival of Temptations). Nowadays, it is one of the most important collections of Spanish graphic art.
The works in the collection offer an overview of traditional and cutting-edge media, as well as of the themes and reflections that have engaged contemporary artists since the 1960s. In addition to acclaimed names such as Antoni Tápies, Joan Miró, Joan Brossa, Eduardo Chillida, José Manuel Broto, Equipo Crónica and Alfredo Alcaín, the collection includes more recent proposals by Abraham Lacalle, Ana de Matos, Iván Larra, Marta Cárdenas, Daniela Zanzoni, Unai San Martín and a long and interesting list of other artists. Although most of the artists represented are Spanish, works by David Hockney, Max Ernst, Henri Moore, Jan Hendrix and Damien Hirst also have a place in the collection.
ARTISTS: Antonio Alcaraz - Juan Luis Baroja Collet - Fernando Bellver - Joan Brossa - José Manuel Broto - Miguel Ángel Campano - Marta Cárdenas - Martín Chirino - Antoni Clavé - Josechu Dávila - Mónica Gener - Juan José Gómez Molina - Luis Gordillo - Jan Hendrix - David Israel – Iván Larra - Óscar Manesi - Ana de Matos - Max Ernst - Juan Moro - Luis Moro - Antoni Muntadas - Blanca Muñoz - Javier Pagola - Carlos Pazos - François Righi - Bernardí Roig - Johan Ryno de Wet - Concha Sáez - Unai San Martín - Jose Mª Sicilia - Susana Solano - Mónica Sotos - Jordi Teixidor - Juan Ugalde - Juan Pablo Villalpando