calendario eventi  :: 

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6/2/2008

Two exhibitions

IVAM Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Valencia

The Real Thing: Contemporary Art from China

Curated by Simon Groom, Karen Smith and Xu Zhen

Organised by Institut Valencià d’Art Modern

As a result of an agreement with Tate Liverpool, The Real Thing: Arte contemporáneo de China (The Real Thing. Contemporary Art from China) brings to Valencia the recent art of one of the speaking most dynamic and sophisticated countries in the world. The exhibition presents some of the most spectacular works made in China in recent years, many of which are shown for the first time away from home, and gives an in-depth view of the works of an emerging generation of young artists. Curated by Simon Groom, director of modern and contemporary art for the National Galleries of Scotland, Karen Smith, a curator based in Beijing, and the artist Xu Zhen, the exhibition comprises 33 works by 18 artists in a great variety of supports, including several large-scale installations.

The catalogue of the exhibition, edited by one of the most outstanding graphic designers in China, relates the history of cultural development and exchange in the country, as well as identifying some of the themes addressed by a new generation of artists accustomed to global exchange. This catalogue reproduces the works displayed in the exhibition and contains texts by Consuelo Císcar, director of the IVAM, Christoph Grunenberg, director of Tate Liverpool, and the three curators.

In the Western World contemporary Chinese art is still associated with the work of the previous generation pf artists, who launched the new art scene from the mid eighties to the mid nineties. The emphasis they put on figurative political painting, which they presented in the West as an example of political and cultural engagement, was simply seen as an updating of the tradition of social realism. Many people still consider this “political Pop” as the definitive style of contemporary Chinese art and a synonym of the avant-garde.

The title “The Real Thing” can be taken literally, as proof that the exhibition is a true reflection of contemporary Chinese art. Many artists display a sincerity in their work that is clearly lacking in the “cynical realist” style of the generations that went before them. “The Real Thing” can also be understood ironically: humour and irony are typical features of a great deal of the art currently produced in China. The title also alludes to the insatiable fascination the West feels for China and its attempt to discover the “real” China.

With the advent of collective cultural spaces like 798 Art District in Beijing and the Morganshan Warehouse complex in Shanghai and the increase of media coverage in publications in Chinese and other languages, contemporary art has made a leap forward in Chinese society. Accompanied by an awareness of international practice, the work has changed, often radically, in the last few years. These artists, most of whom are young, have chosen to remain in China, unlike many artists of the previous generation. They are acquiring a selfconfidence that stems from an understanding of contemporary art, China’s place in it and a reflection about their own position in a society at a time of rapid cultural change.


5 febrero - 13 abril 2008

Eduardo Arroyo

Curated by Marcos-Ricardo Barnatán

The retrospective exhibition dedicated to Eduardo Arroyo comprises the work he has produced in the last ten years. In thirty-one paintings and twenty-two sculptures we can see the evolution of this artist, one of the most representative exponents of contemporary Spanish art, in a period of intensive creativity and enormous international success. The importance of sculpture in this exhibition is especially significant. In these last years, Arroyo has developed a sculptural universe with simple references and totemic and mythical echoes: heads of goats, oxen or cows fashioned out of blocks of stone from the parish of Laciana (León), where the sculptor has his studio. The catalogue published on the occasion of the exhibition is illustrated with reproductions of the works displayed and includes texts by the director of the museum, Consuelo Císcar, and Marcos-Ricardo Barnatán, writer and art critic, and curator of this retrospective.

The oeuvre of Eduardo Arroyo (Madrid, 1937) has been created in a current of critical and literary figuration of enormous originality. After an initial vocation in literature, which he did not renounce with the passage of time but went on to study journalism, he moved to Paris in search of a climate of freedom that was not to be found in Spain. In 1963 he exhibited at the III Biennale de Paris as part of the group L’Abbatoir. Initially characterised by a matteric use of colour, his work evolved towards a technique that was identified with Pop art: bright colours, a flatter application of paint and a rich iconographic vocabulary that permitted him to satirise and criticise the culture, politics and society of his time. His opposition to the dictatorship led to his exile from Spain in 1974, and he did not recover his passport until the advent of democracy in 1976. In 1982 he was granted the National Plastic Arts Award, and that same year a retrospective of his work was held at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

The exhibition now presented at the IVAM begins chronologically in 1998 –the year the Museo Nacional Centro Reina Sofía dedicated an important retrospective to Arroyo– and covers the last ten years of his production, placing special emphasis on the large-format paintings and sculptures of this period, mostly displayed here for the first time.

The remarkable importance of sculpture is one of the most outstanding features of this exhibition. Eduardo Arroyo’s sculpture, like his painting, is literary, and his interest in the content results in an oeuvre loaded with meanings. The artist appropriates tradition, myths and emblems to tell his own story directly or ambiguously related with the present, using complex visual metaphors in constant evolution. His most recent work narrates mainly European stories, from fairy tales to patristics, from mysticism to mass icons, with very specific leitmotifs. These images are recurrent preoccupations of his, linked to the metaphorical nucleus of his earlier work. The new series Fantômas is an example of appropriation of a theme and earlier supports –paintings on paintings– often confronting each other in the painter’s most recognisable manner.

Image: Shi Xinning Duchamp Retrospective Exhibition, 2000–2001 Colección Sigg

The IVAM has organised an educational workshop addressing the multidisciplinary creative process developed in Eduardo Arroyo’s oeuvre.

IVAM-Centre Julio González
Guillem de Castro, 118 - 46003 Valencia
Opening Hours:
Tuesday to Sunday: 10 am to 8 pm

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