Alberto Gironella & Héctor García
25 Sep - 06 Nov 2010
ALBERTO GIRONELLA - Time also paints
HÉCTOR GARCÍA - Our Lady Society
25 Sept 2010 to 6 Nov 2010
Galería OMR is honoured to present two parallel, intertwined, exhibitions, an homage to two of the most important figures in Mexican art and culture of the xx Century: painter Alberto Gironella and photographer Héctor García.
These two artists were united by a long lasting friendship and various artistic collaborations, two of which are exhibited in the present show. Their research followed different paths; while Gironella was interested in literature and painters from the Golden Age, among other themes, García rested his eye on Mexico’s contradictory reality.
Alberto Gironella was born in Mexico City in 1929. He Studied Spanish Literature at the National University of Mexico and from a young age devoted himself to painting, presenting his first solo show in 1952 at Galería Prisse, which he founded with fellow artists Vlady and Héctor Xavier after starting two literary magazines: Claviñero and Segrel. In the same year he created his first painting based on an artwork from the past, “La condesa de Uta”, starting what would become a long and extensive oeuvre in which, using both traditional and innovative media, he expressed his passion for Spanish literature and the Spanish painters Velazquez and Goya; for Mexican icons such as Zapata, and international pop stars like Madonna; for Nietzsche’s philosophy, Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo and Lowry’s Under the volcano. He was a friend of André Breton, Octavio Paz and Luis Buñuel, to whom he dedicated many works, made a number portraits and maintained long and fruitful relationships. His circle also included Chilean theatre and film director Alejandro Jodorowsky, Belgian artist Pierre Alechinsky, matador Manolo Martínez and photographer Héctor García. Gironella was a great and voracious reader, a great artist and a great painter, who in 1963 declared that his vocation was “... more a provocateur than a painter, writer, torero, or anything else.”
The exhibition Time also paints, (a title taken from Francisco Goya’s 1979 exhibition at Colegio de México) presents an important selection of works that span many years and represent many of his regular thematic elements; from early drawings and prints to a portrait of a “pirate” Madonna, a piece which was made only months before he died of cancer, in 1999.
Héctor García: Our lady Society (a title taken from a 1950’s photograph of Independence Day in the Palacio Nacional) presents some twenty photographs of Mexico City by García; a fantastic artist, reporter, and vagabond, who was honoured three times, in 1958, 1968 and 1979, with the National Reporters Prize. García, born in the neighbourhood of Candelaria de los Patos photographed like no other the “...splendid and brutal, miserable and extraordinary city of Mexico” (Carlos Monsivais).
The reality that Héctor García portrays is of the misery, the suffering, the unfair exploitation and brutality of Mexico City. But beneath those sombre tones he also portrays life’s lustre, the beauty of children and women, and the dignity preserved by the working class amidst oppressing poverty. García does not transfigure reality but captures moments when reality it is illuminated by a special light, enlightening us with emotionally intense works or with his view of unusual scenes.
In this time of centennial and bicentennial celebrations Héctor García’s testimony of Mexico City, with its terrible contrasts, its acid humour and its undeniable beauty, is particularly sharp and heart rendering.
HÉCTOR GARCÍA - Our Lady Society
25 Sept 2010 to 6 Nov 2010
Galería OMR is honoured to present two parallel, intertwined, exhibitions, an homage to two of the most important figures in Mexican art and culture of the xx Century: painter Alberto Gironella and photographer Héctor García.
These two artists were united by a long lasting friendship and various artistic collaborations, two of which are exhibited in the present show. Their research followed different paths; while Gironella was interested in literature and painters from the Golden Age, among other themes, García rested his eye on Mexico’s contradictory reality.
Alberto Gironella was born in Mexico City in 1929. He Studied Spanish Literature at the National University of Mexico and from a young age devoted himself to painting, presenting his first solo show in 1952 at Galería Prisse, which he founded with fellow artists Vlady and Héctor Xavier after starting two literary magazines: Claviñero and Segrel. In the same year he created his first painting based on an artwork from the past, “La condesa de Uta”, starting what would become a long and extensive oeuvre in which, using both traditional and innovative media, he expressed his passion for Spanish literature and the Spanish painters Velazquez and Goya; for Mexican icons such as Zapata, and international pop stars like Madonna; for Nietzsche’s philosophy, Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo and Lowry’s Under the volcano. He was a friend of André Breton, Octavio Paz and Luis Buñuel, to whom he dedicated many works, made a number portraits and maintained long and fruitful relationships. His circle also included Chilean theatre and film director Alejandro Jodorowsky, Belgian artist Pierre Alechinsky, matador Manolo Martínez and photographer Héctor García. Gironella was a great and voracious reader, a great artist and a great painter, who in 1963 declared that his vocation was “... more a provocateur than a painter, writer, torero, or anything else.”
The exhibition Time also paints, (a title taken from Francisco Goya’s 1979 exhibition at Colegio de México) presents an important selection of works that span many years and represent many of his regular thematic elements; from early drawings and prints to a portrait of a “pirate” Madonna, a piece which was made only months before he died of cancer, in 1999.
Héctor García: Our lady Society (a title taken from a 1950’s photograph of Independence Day in the Palacio Nacional) presents some twenty photographs of Mexico City by García; a fantastic artist, reporter, and vagabond, who was honoured three times, in 1958, 1968 and 1979, with the National Reporters Prize. García, born in the neighbourhood of Candelaria de los Patos photographed like no other the “...splendid and brutal, miserable and extraordinary city of Mexico” (Carlos Monsivais).
The reality that Héctor García portrays is of the misery, the suffering, the unfair exploitation and brutality of Mexico City. But beneath those sombre tones he also portrays life’s lustre, the beauty of children and women, and the dignity preserved by the working class amidst oppressing poverty. García does not transfigure reality but captures moments when reality it is illuminated by a special light, enlightening us with emotionally intense works or with his view of unusual scenes.
In this time of centennial and bicentennial celebrations Héctor García’s testimony of Mexico City, with its terrible contrasts, its acid humour and its undeniable beauty, is particularly sharp and heart rendering.