Installations, Still and Moving images
October 18-22, 2023

Carmen Calvo
by Luis Adelantado

The Artist

Carmen Calvo (1950, Valencia) is one of the most emblematic Spanish conceptual artists, whose work, close to Surrealism, Art Povera and Pop, finds its voice in commonplace found objects charged with memory, creating a very personal language in order to approach the analysis of human behavior. Calvo’s important trajectory has led her to be a great generational reference, being part of major exhibitions such as The XLVII Venice Biennale in 1997, New Images from Spain, at the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 1980 as well as her monographic exhibitions at the Museo Reina Sofía in 2002, at the IVAM in Valencia in 2007 and 2022, the latter on the occasion of the International Award Julio González 2020, also recently had an important retrospective at Museu Picasso Barcelona. She has been granted with important awards, among them, the Spanish National Prize of Plastic Arts in 2013…

Through a special selection of strongly representative pieces, produced between 1999 and 2016, the proposal tries to introduce the visitor into her personal universe of material processes, to make a picture of the global spirit of her work. Here is emphasized the artist’s intention to denounce the historical violence and oppression of women in society, which still persists today. Ranging from medium format intervened images to a large-scale sculpture, Calvo questions the past and present of a Spain marked by religious mandate, placing women as the main victims of patriarchal subjugation. This project is a picture of the conceptual and symbolic universe of Carmen Calvo’s work, crossed by social criticism, surrealism and the power of language through objects.

The Gallery

Opened in 1985 and currently managed by Olga Adelantado, the gallery has been focused right from the start on promoting and disseminating contemporary art. Over the years it has represented and exhibited work by a wide spectrum of national and international artists, renown and emerging. The main purpose of the gallery is to further build on a dynamic, eclectic program focusing on establishing new relationships between artists, disciplines, and other players in the sector.

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