December 18th 2014, from 20:00h, collective exhibition Promenade will have its grand opening at Miguel Marcos Gallery. This is an exhibition which brings together six internationally renowned artists of the Gallery: Miguel Ángel Campano, Carlos Franco, Xavier Grau, Marcela Gutiérrez, Romulo Royo and Baltazar Torres.
Acrylic and oil on canvas
92 x 73 cm (36.22 x 28.74 in.)
Acrylic and oil on canvas
92 x 73 cm (36.22 x 28.74 in.)
Inspired by the well-known Mussorgsky’s suite “Pictures at an exhibition”, Promenade is conceived both as a stroll and drift through the spaces that exist within the artworks at the exhibition. By claiming these spaces in-between as interesting places, has to do with the desire to remember not only the role of non-places in building contemporary identities, but with proposing these places as spaces of possibility.
As in the homonymous music piece, an apparent stylistic dissonance becomes harmonious and highly descriptive thanks to the melody arised between pieces, which draws an alternative way of narrating the art history in recent decades. In this journey through contemporary art, characterised by its multiple discourses and languages, the viewer is faced with a complex exercise of creating new and unexpected connections.
It features Romulo Royo’s hyperrealistic illustrations on paper, which draw enigmatic parallels between the individual and the collective. He presents works from his series Goddesses of Nibiru, a collection of different ancestral beings from a fictitious planet, Nibiru. That is why the figures we see are quasi-totems, solid as well as delicate. It is why silence reigns, but mystery and restraint do too, as they treasure what is most sacred of all: knowledge. Their size within the space results from their desire to hold our full attention and, on the other hand, demonstrate their dominance and importance, just like those ancient civilisations which were, in the artist’s words, “so monumental, we struggle to process it”. This is why many of these deities appear with their eyes closed, surrounded by ethereal mists, showing the “distance” that separates them from mere mortals.
In Promenade we will be immersed in a musical and plastic trip that invites us to enjoy walking without direction; walking around images that, together, create a new level of meaning, interpretation and sensorial stimulation. This exhibition will be on display from December 18th 2014 to January 9th 2015.
