Gallery

Suite Olympic Centennial. Recapturing the Olympic spirit

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Centenaries are always a cause for celebration. They are irrefutable proof that tradition and perseverance have overcome any adversity that time may have thrown at them. And in the case of sport, one hundred years of dedicated quadrennial events is a milestone that should be commemorated in the most solemn way possible. For this reason, in 1992, coinciding with the celebration of the Barcelona Olympic Games, the Suite Olympic Centennial was held, which commemorated the centenary of the celebration of the first modern Olympic Games.

When did it all start?

History marks the beginning of these games around 1892, when Baron Pierre de Coubertin announced at a session of the Union française des sports athlétiques – Union of French Athletic Sports Societies – the celebration of the first Olympic Games of the modern era (1896), thus re-establishing this sporting event after more than 1,500 years without being held. The Games, a symbol of peace and universal alliance between the different countries of the world, once again brought together athletes from all continents to celebrate the great festival of sport in the birthplace of this age-old tradition: Athens. The Olympic return to Greece paid homage to the origins of these games, bringing together a small part of humanity in the city that saw the birth of sport and its competitions as we conceive them today.

The Olympic Centennial Suite as a symbol of unity between countries

In 1992, one hundred years after this session that shaped the Games of the First Olympiad, the International Olympic Committee, chaired by Juan Antonio Samaranch, decided to pay tribute to this event in a unique way that was closely related to the visual arts. It was from Barcelona, the Olympic city at the time, that the creation of an artistic piece commemorating the centenary, known as the Suite Olympic Centennial, was coordinated. The Suite was a collection of fifty works of art by fifty international artists, representing the different artistic currents of the time. This selection of artists was managed by a group of experts that included none other than one of the founders of Galeria SENDA, so we are very excited to be able to share his involvement and commitment to this event with you.

The artists who brought the Suite Olympic Centennial to life

Many of the artists who made up this union of virtuosos of the arts were great exponents of a very wide range of currents. Their contributions to this collective work of art were crucial to the creation of a symbol of fraternity that transcended the annals of art history. Below, we will talk about some of the artists who collaborated in the construction of the Suite Olympic Centennial.

Carlos Cruz Díez

Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz Díez is internationally renowned as the creator of Op Art, a style of visual art that makes use of optical illusions. Cruz Díez’s vision is clear: to question the classical division between painting and sculpture, thus conceiving works that confront both arts in order to merge them into a single piece. For this reason, the artist uses the reliefs typical of sculpture in his paintings to create optical effects that produce the impression, at first glance, of movement in the paintings. It is therefore obvious to state that Cruz Díez plays with sensations to invite us to see with the human eye something intangible such as movement. In his pictorial works, such as the one he created for the Suite Olympic Centennial, we can appreciate how the artist invades us with a complete chromatic experience that invites the spectator to let himself be carried away by sensory perception and not by logical reason.

Carlos Cruz Díez. Suite Olympic Centennial (1994). 100 x 70 cm. Engraving

Antoni Tàpies

The Catalan Antoni Tàpies did not miss this opportunity to be part of art history either, participating in the making of the Olympic Centennial Suite. Characterised among those closest to him by his desire to embellish everyday life, Tàpies’ style stems from surrealism, influenced by its greatest exponents such as Paul Klee, Joan Miró and Joan Ponç. However, Tàpies is known worldwide for being part of the informalist movement, a style strongly rooted in chance, improvisation, the use and experimentation of materials and the rejection of premeditated construction. Antoni Tàpies, with works such as the one presented in the Suite Olympic Centennial, shows his inner abyss through the expressiveness of the materials, with his characteristic crosses and initials engraved on the canvas.

Antoni Tàpies. Suite Olympic Centennial (1994). 63 x 90.5 cm. Engraving

Eduardo Chillida

«My aim is to define three-dimensional emptiness through three-dimensional fullness», said Eduardo Chillida when asked about his work. The Basque artist, author of iconic sculptural works such as “Peine del Viento”, which clads the coast of San Sebastian, dared for this special occasion to create an engraving that challenges his concern about how to expose empty space in pictorial works. Through his own artistic language, Chillida shows the emptiness to the public thanks to the fullness, charging his creations with a strong artisanal force. Influenced by his sculptural training and by the traditions of the Basque people, Chillida dazzles us with pieces that invite the spectator to empathise with an artist divided between sculpture and painting.

Eduardo Chillida. Suite Olympic Centennial (1994). 70 x 100 cm. Engraving

Ben Vautier

Under the slogan «Any action an artist makes is art», Ben Vautier has established himself as an artist who fuses his most plastic side with his most poetic vocation. Camouflaged in a clearly childish calligraphy, Vautier hides great and profound statements in the strokes he writes on his canvases. Self-defined as a zero-visceral artist, Vautier considers himself an individual driven by premeditated theoretical reflections. Therefore, for the Olympic Centennial Suite he writes on a black background «Life is competition – Ben», i.e. «Life is competition – Ben», opening our eyes to a reality of the human condition. Artists who use language as a means of expression in their work seek to awaken the viewer, and that is exactly what Vautier achieves with phrases such as the one written for the Suite Olympic Centennial.

Ben Vautier. Suite Olympic Centennial (1994). 100 x 70 cm. Engraving

Peter Saul

It is impossible to talk about Peter Saul and not imagine one of his colourful creations. Using aggressive caricatures and exaggerated distortions, he succeeds in immersing the viewer in a narrative in which Saul mocks a system mired in capitalism. Peter Saul has long been associated with the Pop Art movement, although the artist has always radically separated himself from this movement due to his political convictions. Saul’s style is clear: transforming characters and settings into bland, visceral forms through graffiti-like drawings, with garish colours deliberately chosen to make them feel vulgar in the eyes of the public. For the Suite Olympic Centennial, Peter Saul chooses green to colour his work, caricaturing the athletes in different animals and strange bodies.

Peter Saul. Suite Olympic Centennial (1994). 100 x 70 cm. Engraving

Mimmo Rotella

The artist Mimmo Rotella is capable of capturing contemporary reality from a documented expression rooted in neorealism. In fact, Rotella has been a great exponent of Mec Art, a current that takes the art of photography as its starting point, using image transfer techniques. This style has been considered a response to the subjective and lyrical content of European Informalism, which employs mechanical resources to create works of art based on movement. In his project for the Suite Olympic Centennial, the Olympic rings take center stage in an amalgam of grainy, textured backgrounds.

Mimmo Rotella. Suite Olympic Centennial (1994). 70 x 100 cm. Engraving

El legado de cincuenta artistas

That is why we can say that the Suite Olympic Centennial was a before and after in the history of the Olympic Games, a celebration of success, a symbol of the unity of peoples. Each work that forms part of this project is a small contribution to a legacy that is not only about sport, but also about art and humanity.

“En la Cabeza del Artista”. Collective Exhibition in LAB 36

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The exhibition “En la Cabeza del Artista” is conceived as a showcase of different approaches to the representation of the head by a selection of artists, including Robert Mapplethorpe, Jaume Plensa, Yago Hortal, Erik Parker, Stephan Balkenhol, Joan Ponç, Gonzalo Guzmán, Jordi Bernadó, Roger Ballen, and Sergio Roger.

Robert Mapplethorpe

In “En la Cabeza del Artista,” we find two works by Robert Mapplethorpe, the celebrated American photographer known for documenting the New York subculture scene in the 60s and 70s. In “Statue Series” (1983), Mapplethorpe captures the essence and form of statues with timeless elegance, while in “Louise Nevelson” (1986), he reflects the strength and distinctive personality of the sculptor.

Jaume Plensa

In this collective exhibition, we find two unusual works by the renowned sculptor Jaume Plensa. On one hand, his graphic work “Étude en Jaune VI” (2020) is a study of the anatomy of the head. On the other hand, “CAP III” (1988) is a sample from the beginning of his career. In the eighties, his sculpture was anthropomorphic, with volumes that transported us to human landscapes with totemic and primitive echoes.

Yago Hortal

Yago Hortal‘s work stems from a strong commitment to painting and the very act of painting. In “SP 119” (2016), the characteristic use of intense colors and dynamic movements by Hortal can be observed. Despite the marked abstraction of the piece, the color stains create a form that resembles a face. In “Z78” (2023), Hortal continues his exploration of abstraction with dynamic and fluid brushstrokes, differing from the painter’s usual vibrant palette.

Erik Parker

Erik Parker is known for his style that fuses influences from Pop Art and the American psychedelic subculture. In “S/T (Split)” (2004), Parker uses mixed media to create a psychedelic composition in which the viewer can intuit the shape of a head.

Stephan Balkenhol

Stephan Balkenhol, a sculptor known for reintroducing figurative sculpture to the contemporary scene, uses carved softwoods to create works with visible textures and stark contrasts. In “Head of a man” (2005), Balkenhol presents a simple but expressive portrait, demonstrating his skill in woodworking. His sculptures evoke medieval techniques and folk art, standing out for their distinctive style and meticulous technique.

Joan Ponç

Joan Ponç, a Barcelona painter influential in the avant-garde art scene of the 40s and 50s, is known for his personal symbolism and his world inhabited by imaginary beings. In “Suite En la Cabeza del Artista” (1958-59), Ponç uses ink on paper to create drawings that explore the magical and mysterious aspects of reality.

Gonzalo Guzmán

Gonzalo Guzmán, a young contemporary sculptor, is known for his stainless steel sculptures that refer to his dream world. “Estela_31” (2024) is another example of Guzmán‘s use of steel to create sculptures that play with form and space, generating a strong visual impression.

Jordi Bernadó

The exhibition includes “Barcelona (BCN 878.1)c2bn” (2023) by Jordi Bernadó, a photographer known for his images that question reality and representation. This photograph captures “Flora,” the large-format sculpture by Jaume Plensa that was installed on Passeig de Gràcia in the summer of 2023 for his exhibition at La Pedrera.

Roger Ballen

Roger Ballen is known for his disturbing psychological studies and social statements. In “Perpetrator” (2003) and “Head Inside Shirt” (2001), Ballen uses black and white to capture unsettling scenes that explore the human subconscious.

Sergio Roger

Sergio Roger draws inspiration from the beauty of ancient civilizations, especially the Greco-Roman era. He reinterprets and subverts iconic elements of classical art using natural textile fibers instead of marble. Each of his works is unique, created with antique fabrics like linen and silk, carefully selected from antique shops. With technical mastery in textile sculptures, Roger explores ancestral techniques with a contemporary vision, questioning our perception of the past and the permanence of traditional art.

“Landscape Untitled 2” – Group exhibition at the Mezzanina

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32 years ago, galeria SENDA opened its doors and dedicated the summer an exhibition that was key in the history of the gallery titled “Landscape Untitled”. In it, invited Albert Oehlen, Christopher Wool and Peter Halley – artist with whom we mantain the relation and will be exhibiting after the summer. Each of them had a room and conceived the space as a little show. 

This exhibition carried a fantastic text by Luis Francisco Perez in which he said:

“The practice of painting, even that which abandons itself to a maelstrom of contemporaneity devoid of memory, obeys a will to reconstruct, a desire projected towards the conquest of an existing territory.”

Facing the arrival of summer, we recall the Olympic spirit of ’92 with the America’s Cup, which this year takes place in Barcelona and brings us back the joy of a sporting project that puts the focus on our city. Thus, in SENDA we take up again the idea of landscape, which is so typical in the history of Catalan art, and we present “Landscape Untitled 2”. In this group show in the Mezzanine of the gallery, works by Joan Fontcuberta, Robert Wilson, Gao Xingjian, Peter Halley, Anna Malagrida, Gonzalo Guzmán and Glenda León are in dialogue.

The pieces in this exhibition

Glenda León

Glenda León‘s “Contours of the World” series of marbles revisits the forms employed in previous works, such as the canvas of “The Horizons of the World” (2018) or the “Contours of the World” silkscreens. In these new sculptures, the artist cuts the marble following different shapes. From natural elements such as a tree branch, to the flight of a bee, the Ganges River or the Valdivia earthquake in Chile, the sculptures explore the interaction between nature and the human interpretation of its phenomena. Each carefully crafted piece shows León‘s skill in transforming the rigidity of marble into organic and fluid representations, giving a new life to this material.

“Contornos del mundo” (2024) Different sizes, Calatorao black marble
“Contornos del mundo: El Terremoto de Valdivia, Chile” (2024) 9 x 23 x 1.5 cm, Calatorao black marble

Joan Fontcuberta

With “Paisaje de la Seguridad: Banco de España/Caja de Seguridad” (2001), Joan Fontcuberta immerses in a reflection on perception, reality, security and politics. This work is part of his series “Landscapes of Security” and is closely related to his idea that all nature has become artifice due to the influence of culture and economic and political contexts. 

“Banco de España/Caja de Seguridad” (2001) 120 x 180 cm

Robert Wilson

Robert Wilson’s works are a series on paper that reveal his creative process in the conception of the opera “Der Messiah”, as shown in the exhibition of his originals.

View of the exhibition “Der Messias” by Robert Wilson in March 2024 at Senda

This sequence of four works depicts a mountain as the protagonist, highlighting the distinctive use of light in each piece. Wilson uses light not only as a visual element, but as a narrative medium that transforms the perception of the landscape in each work. Through subtle and dramatic variations in lighting, each work captures a unique moment, suggesting the temporal and atmospheric evolution of the mountain, and which relates directly to his set design of “Der Messiah”. 

“Der Messias” (2020) 60.5 x 80.5 x 3.5 cm each – Charcoal and paper

Gao Xingjian

Gao Xingjian, known as much for his literary work as for his visual art, presents in “Cité fantastique” (2011) an interpretation of the landscape that plays with abstraction and suggestion. The painting, with its monochromatic tones and fluid strokes, evokes a sense of mystery and contemplation.

“Cité fantastique” (2011) 130 x 162 cm – India ink on canvas.

Peter Halley

We also find a unique work on paper by Peter Halley. “Cell 8” uses graphite and creates a texture and tone that differs significantly from his usual use of color, but maintains his interest in systems and connections. This drawing shows a study of space and confinement, recurring themes in Halley‘s work, where he often explores the architecture of the urban environment, understanding it as landscape, and the interaction between personal and social space.

“Cell 8” (1995) 12.5 x 17.7 cm – Graphite and paper

Anna Malagrida

The photograph “Refuge 8” (2006) by Anna Malagrida is part of a series of photographs of shelters in the Jordanian desert. These basic and precarious constructions are the simplest expression of the form represented by the notion of refuge, roof, or protection. The photographic vision transforms these anonymous constructions into desert sculptures. This series of photographs of shelters in the Jordanian desert, which captures the simplest essence of protection and refuge, dialogues with the various interpretations of the landscape presented in the exhibition “Landscape Untitled 2,” transforming these anonymous constructions into desert sculptures that resonate with history and human nature.

La imagen tiene un atributo ALT vacío; su nombre de archivo es MAL_db_122.jpg
“Refugio 8” (2006) 32 x 40 cm – Copia Pigment Print

Gonzalo Guzmán

Finally, Gonzalo Guzmán‘s two sculptures induce us to reflect on how art relates to its context. The ability of the sculptures to reflect the accompanying landscape highlights how context influences the perception of the artwork. This dynamic interaction between the work and its surroundings invites viewers to consider how context modifies our experience and understanding of art and the world. 

Estela_23″ (2024) 120 x 32 x 24 cm – Stainless Steel

Thus, “Landscape Untitled 2” is a journey through different interpretations of landscape, from the tangible and physical to the imaginary and sensory.

“Art and science: shared trajectories”, a dialogue between Xavi Bou and Josep Perelló

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“Art and science: shared trajectories”, a dialogue between the artist Xavi Bou and the professor and researcher Josep Perelló, will take place on 4th June at 7pm at galeria SENDA. Framed in Bou’s current exhibition at the gallery, both will offer us their perspective that intertwines art and science.

A meeting of gazes

Xavi Bou, through his project “Ornithographies”, explores the flight of birds using advanced photographic techniques that reveal patterns invisible to the human eye. His work is not only visually stunning, but also invites deep reflection on nature, the importance of preserving wildlife, and our place in it.

Josep Perelló is a professor in the Department of Condensed Matter Physics at the University of Barcelona (UB) and a researcher at the UB Institute of Complex Systems (UBICS). Founder of the OpenSystems-UB group, Perelló promotes scientific research projects with citizen participation and artistic practices. His work in citizen science and collective experiments for public space has been recognised and acclaimed both locally and internationally. 

For all this, Perelló‘s historical knowledge and Bou‘s artistic and nature experience converge in a talk that fuses art and science from a different perspective.

The fusion between art and science

During the talk, Josep Perelló will provide a historical perspective on the intersection between art and science, exploring how these two fields have dialogued and influenced each other over the centuries. His experience as head and curator of the Science Area at Arts Santa Mònica, as well as his work at the Barcelona Office of Citizen Science and the Ciutat i Ciència Biennial, provides him with an enriching vision that promises to broaden our understanding and appreciation of this interdisciplinary fusion.

Xavi Bou, for his part, will share his personal experience and creative process. He will take us through the development of his project “Ornithographies”, from the initial inspiration to the technical and artistic realisation of his photographs. It will be a unique opportunity to understand art from the perspective of the person who creates it, and how science can be a powerful tool in the artistic process.

Do you want to attend?

We’ll be waiting for you on 4th June at 7pm at galeria SENDA (Trafalgar, 32). The talk is free and open to the public. You only have to confirm your attendance by clicking on this link and register.

Gonzalo Guzmán. Dolmen_04 and his oneiric journeys

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An onironaut who makes his dreams tangible. In a few words, this is how we could define Gonzalo Guzmán, the artist from Madrid who bases his sculptural work on the oneiric study of his dreams. Guzmán trained as an industrial designer and, since the pandemic, has dedicated his time to the art of sculpture. During that period of social isolation, Gonzalo Guzmán began to experience lucid dreams, a state of momentary disconnection between body and mind in which the subject is aware that he is living a dream and can therefore control it. Since then, his artistic project has been growing and exploring new horizons.

Dreams, his object of study

It is when he closes his eyes and dreams that Guzmán finds the meaning and inspiration for his works. In his dreams, the artist interacts with megalithic metallic structures that give him a very deep sense of peace. Menhirs and dolmens that, although they look like abstract bodies, are figurative pieces because they copy what the artist sees in his dreams. Guzmán chooses stainless steel because he seeks to emulate the metallic material with which he interacts in his dreamlike journeys. In addition, for practicality, this type of metal is resistant to the exterior, which is essential in order to be faithful to what he had previously dreamed. Stainless steel is the ideal material for his structures, as it offers him the necessary technical and visual properties to build his pieces.

Guzmán’s dream ritual

Gonzalo Guzmán, in an interview for Metal magazine, explains the mental process he carries out to connect with his dreams. He talks about the state of “duermevela”, a state of disconnection where the body remains asleep, but the mind remains awake. As bodily movements and sensations are cancelled out, they intensify in the head, and that is when the dream adventure begins. The trick, according to Guzmán, is to have a clear objective when dreaming. “[…] it is easier to experience these dreams if you have a goal, if during the day you are motivated by thinking about having a lucid dream, and you set yourself something you would like to accomplish within the dream.”

In Gonzalo Guzmán‘s case, his goal when dreaming is to better understand the meaning of these structures he sees in his dreams and to interact with them again. His ritual begins at four in the morning at the sound of his alarm. The artist half wakes up and does a series of exercises in that drowsy state that make it easier for him to begin to experience lucid dreaming when he goes back to sleep.

Exhibitions and participations

Gonzalo Guzmán has exhibited his pieces in different parts of the world such as Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the United Kingdom, among many other places. His most recent solo show is the exhibition “Colisión” (2023) at Galeria SENDA, framed within the Art Nou festival, an emerging art festival in Barcelona and Hospitalet de Llobregat that offers the possibility for young national and international artists to establish their first professional relationships in the art market, galleries, self-managed spaces and institutions dedicated to emerging art. The central piece of the exhibition and the one that attracted the most attention was an installation composed of the representation of a three-metre stainless steel stalactite that was suspended from the ceiling of the gallery on a reflective surface. The reflection of the stalactite on the surface generated the optical illusion that there was also a second stalactite about to touch the suspended one. The strength of the composition lies in the closeness of an impossible collision, hence the name of the exhibition.

In the context of art fairs, Guzmán has participated in a couple so far this year. Firstly, his dreamlike works made a visit to ARCO Madrid along with other artists from the gallery in a leading art scene. In addition, recently, his pieces were also exhibited at the SENDA stand at the Art Brussels fair. 

Dolmen_04 and its link with the Meeting of the Círculo de Economía

On the occasion of this year’s 39th Meeting of the Círculo de Economía, framed under the title “The world on trial. Strategies to boost productivity and well-being in times of change”, the work Dolmen_04 by Gonzalo Guzmán will have a special place at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya. 

This structure shares a close link with the theme of the symposia at this meeting. We often need to go back to our origins to see how far we have come. Raimon wrote that he who loses his origins loses his identity. Perhaps what he meant in this verse is that those who have abandoned their history are not capable of understanding their present in all its grandeur, nor will they be able to face the challenges of the future in all their complexity.

Dolmen_04 takes us from the origins of humanity to the most rabid present in fractions of a second. In the blink of an eye. The dolmen is a quantum object, which seems to be in two different spaces at the same time: physically planted in this meeting space and, with its infinite reflection, in our deepest vision of ourselves. And it is quantum also because it occupies two different places in space/time. Art challenges, as much or more than physics, our perception of the universe and is able to make us perceive an object, like this Dolmen_04, in two very different moments in the history of mankind.

A sample of these first and rudimentary architectural constructions that man built can be seen here today transformed into a modern object, without losing its prehistoric symbolism. We find it here, in a place where the most mundane humans reflect on the present and the future, and its vision challenges us and announces to us where we come from, lest by having our feet on the ground we lose our origins and forget that humanity, since its beginnings, has always wanted to rise above the most mundane reality, and find, wherever it is, a spiritual meaning in the routine moments that we live every day.

That is why this dolmen of the 21st century takes us back to our ancestors and wants to remind all of us gathered here that outside, not so far from here, there is another world. A world created, among others, by hundreds of millions of years of artists, writers, sculptors, musicians, etc., and also by ordinary people, the common citizen who goes to work every day and who, in some way, has to be present in our discussions. Because, in the end, we all have to work for the common man, for the human race in its entirety. This dolmen transports us to the millenary history of the human race, of ordinary people.

A dolmen has landed in these days as an artist’s piece that summarises this journey from antiquity to modernity in tenths of a second and reminds us that this journey would not have been possible without the people in the street, without those who work and produce, who, in short, must always be the main actor in human progress. Let’s keep him here, let’s see him, and let’s never forget why he is here. His work, his production and his creativity is our future.

A small sample of his dreams

Here is a small selection of works by Gonzalo Guzmán that evoke those induced dreams that the artist creates from scratch in his mind.

Sandra Vásquez de la Horra receives the Käthe Kollwitz Award

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From Galeria SENDA, we are pleased to announce that Chilean artist Sandra Vásquez de la Horra has been awarded the Käthe Kollwitz Award. For those who don’t know about the history of this annual award, it was born in 1960 and is named after the German artist Käthe Kollwitz. Kollwitz was a painter, sculptor and printmaker in the realist movement, who was very socially committed to this style during the 19th century and who embraced expressionism in the early 20th century. The Akademie der Künste – Berlin Academy of Arts – has awarded its prize this year to Vásquez de la Horra, who has been living in Germany since 1995.

More about the artist

Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, born in 1967 in Viña del Mar (Chile), graduated in Visual Communication at the University of Design in her hometown and subsequently completed her studies in Fine Arts at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf (Germany). Abroad, in 2002, he studied photography, film and new media at the Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln – Academy of Visual Arts in Cologne. It should also be noted that since he moved to Germany in 1995, he has continued to produce his work from Berlin. Therefore, we can observe the great esteem and the indissoluble bond that the artist and the German country have created after years of living and creating new projects from there.

This year, Vásquez de la Horra has exhibited at the Goethe-Institut in Santiago de Chile and in 2022 she participated in the 59th Venice Biennale. The artist has already been honoured with extensive solo exhibitions such as the one at the Denver Art Museum with “The Awake Volcanoes” (2024) or, for example, the one held at the gallery, “Aura” (2022). 

Why Vásquez de la Horra’s personal style

In Vásquez de la Horra‘s works, the artist uses wax crayon to construct a dark imaginary that evokes an imaginary and fantastical world that touches on subversive themes such as religion, mythology, sex, popular culture, social networks and death. Through this dystopian execution, the spectator is introduced into a universe of fictitious and enchanted creatures characterised by carnal and psychological concerns, a resource that Vásquez de la Horra uses to make us reflect on social issues that affect us directly, although we often leave them aside. Therefore, we could say that she is an artist whose visual language thematises the conflicts faced by today’s society.

Her works bring together a series of archetypes of the collective consciousness, questions of gender and sexuality, intercultural reflections and themes of spiritual practices. The reason for this artistic discourse that is so rooted in social protest can be explained when one gets to know the artist’s biography. Vásquez de la Horra grew up in an era which, following the coup d’état of the Chilean military junta in 1973 and the seizure of power by Augusto Pinochet, was dominated by torture, repression, disappearances and numerous human rights violations for more than seventeen years.

With the return of democracy in 1990, the population was able to digest and come to terms with the country’s history, the imprint of which can be seen in Sandra Vásquez de la Horra‘s artwork. In addition to showing the barbarities that her country experienced, her projects depict family confrontations, the mythologies of the indigenous population and the colonial domination of Europeans in Central and South America.

The drawings Vásquez de la Horra creates are both small and large format, on paper and cardboard, and are characterised by their density, colours and precision. Some of his creations are dipped in wax, a treatment that adds depth to the drawing and allows him to construct three-dimensional works in the form of an accordion.

Prize and celebration

On the occasion of the award ceremony of the Käthe Kollwitz Award 2023, the Akademie der Künste will exhibit a selection of Vásquez de la Horra‘s works; a total of more than 60 drawings, photographs and objects that will be exhibited in a site-specific installation. The ceremony will take place at the Akademie der Künste itself on 18 June at 7 p.m. and the special exhibition will be open to the public from 19 June to 25 August.

A new doctorate for Jaume Plensa

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Currently, in the art world, one of the names that resonates most is that of the famous artist Jaume Plensa. After a long career full of successes in various artistic fields, Plensa has become an example of a multidisciplinary artist, having left his personal mark in many of the existing artistic disciplines. From his enormous sculptural productions to his symbolic paintings, and even the arduous task of setting the stage for an opera at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, we can see that Jaume Plensa has dared all kinds of artistic adventures that have made him the international artist that we all know.

His artistic narrative

His work made an impact on the other side of the pond thanks to his interactive video sculpture «Crown Fountain», located in Chicago’s Millennium Park. This production managed to catapult his international fame, a clear example being the large number of Plensa‘s works housed in institutions and countries around the world such as «Endless» at the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art (USA), «Wonderland» in Calgary (Canada) or «Nomade» in Antibes (France). His sculptures and public art installations, for which he is mostly known, always invite to silent contemplation, to connect with spirituality, with the body and with the collective memory. His pieces incite deep reflection and establish a necessary dialogue between the individual and his critical spirit, in order to make visible social issues such as the violation of human rights, oppression, inequalities or injustices.

To convey all this narrative based on awareness, a common point that connects all his projects is the monumentality that surrounds all his works. Not only when talking about their dimensions, but rather when trying to understand the reason for this grandeur that makes us feel part of the social struggle. His faces with closed eyes, his sculptures of pensive bodies or his installations composed with letters of various alphabets, are the proof of a humanity that must activate the five senses, meditate on the context that surrounds it and dissolve borders to unite in the same language: that of harmony and peace.

Prizes and awards

For all these reasons, it is not strange to think that Jaume Plensa has been awarded on several occasions, both for his artistic and social work. Here in Spain he has been awarded nothing more and nothing less than the Premi Nacional d’Arts Plàstiques de la Generalitat de Catalunya (1997), the Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas de España (2012) or the Medalla de Oro al Mérito en las Bellas Artes del Ministerio de Cultura (2021), along with other personalities from the art world such as the actor Javier Bardem or the musical group Amaral. However, in this blog we want to celebrate and congratulate Jaume Plensa on receiving his fourth honorary degree, this time from the University of Notre-Dame (Indiana, USA). Other doctorates Plensa has been awarded by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2005), the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (2018) and the Universidad Internacional Méndez Pelayo (2022).

From Galeria SENDA we want to give a warm applause to this Catalan artist who has managed to break boundaries and expose an art designed to be shown to the world. So that his works continue to impact the lives of many people and urban scenarios in all countries of the world. So that the narratives of his projects and the impact they have on our society continue to be awarded.

When movement becomes form. The Poststructuralist Photographic Art of Xavi Bou – by Uta M. Reindl

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Mostly black lines of captivating geometry snake or swirl, some even in several strands, across the monochrome image grounds of the photographs — making one think of abstract drawings or paintings. The almost artificial perfection of the minimalist formations, however, gives the impression that they are mathematically generated. Yet the enigmatic structures show flight figures of birds recorded in the old method of chronophotography and modern computer technology. The Barcelona-born artist Xavi Bou has decontextualized them in the sense that they unfold on a cloudless sky, which he has transformed into a canvas through appropriate digital processing. According to the photographer, his fascination with birds and their movement is rooted in his childhood. Growing up in El Prat de Llobregat on the southern outskirts of Barcelona, allowed him to take countless walks in nature with his bird-loving grandfather. His great interest in nature remained with him even after his studies in geography and photography and during his stage working in the fashion photography sector. Soon after his debut in 2015, the artist received praise from numerous publications in daily newspapers or magazines of different orientations worldwide.

Fotografía de Xavi Bou que captura la forma del vuelo de los pájaros. En este caso son Cuervos y la fotografía se tomó en Manlleu, Cataluña

From an art-historical point of view, such a concentration on non-figurative representations began in Germany in the 1950s with “subjective photography”; it brings to mind its inventor Otto Steinert, who depicted reality without narrating, documented in a reportage-like manner and placed ornamentation as an external phenomenon in the picture. Incidentally, a similar case was that of the Catalan photographer Marcel Giró, who emigrated to Brazil. Xavi Bou is familiar with Eadweard Muybridge’s purely scientific chronophotography, which somehow is related to his ornithographic approach.

Meanwhile, Xavi Bou has given shape to the movements of numerous bird species in his ornithographic works, as well as exploring the medium of photography to visualize and archive these flowing and fluctuating energies. This, in the whole series and in concept, is quite like the photo archive of international utility buildings by the artist couple Hilla and Bernd Becher, which is more poststructuralist-conservationist than system-critical. Similarly, Bou strives to ensure that the beauty of the abstract formations he puts into the picture always allows for open reading. In other words: only a few of the lines drawn by birds with their flight figures, as well as the tangle of lines of entire flocks of birds, reveal their creators. This is true of the goldfinches appearing in the picture amidst the swirls of ochre lines —becoming the artist’s least appreciated photographic works precisely because of its clear legibility. Xavi Bou sees himself as a “curator” who tracks down the choreography of birds and makes it visible.” Very rarely, therefore, landscapes or cloud formations in the sky remain visible on the monochrome image backgrounds at the bottom of the picture and may hardly contribute to deciphering the actual image subject without relevant background knowledge.

The amazing geometry, precision, and complexity of the birds’ flight figures have been occupying the 43-year-old artist for around ten years now, and many of the cooperation partners for his artistic work are recruited from the bird world, or rather tracked down. Sparrows, swallows, swifts, seagulls, starlings, but also flamingos or eagles as well as other birds of prey… He finds them not only in the wild – very often nearby or even in places like Gibraltar or Iceland – but surprisingly also in the Gracia quarter in the heart of Barcelona.

This short film has emerged from Xavi Bou’s artistic residence with the UCLouvain university in Belgium within the Reveal Flight project.

In his videos, the artist records the collective development of bird flight lines, an entire bird migration, while he underlays the sequences with original sound or music composed by one of the artist’s friends. In the future, Bou plans to expand his archival practice with a new series of photographs — through sculptural abstractions, by using footage of insects in motion, and then digitally manipulating them to appear both three-dimensional and in the natural coloring of the animals.

Galeria SENDA at Art Brussels 2024

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For the 40th edition of Art Brussels, we have been selected for the “REDISCOVERY” section by the Art Brussels Committee, composed of Belgian and international gallerists. On this occasion, we bring back the unclassifiable Zush/Evru, to whom we dedicate the exhibition “Back to being” (2020) after eight years of absence by the artist. The “REDISCOVERY” section is dedicated to underrated, undervalued or forgotten artists of the 20th century, living or deceased. It aims to explore and highlight surprising, unknown and original practices that have not yet entered the mainstream of art history.

The human condition through dreams seen by three generations of artists

It is a pleasure to participate again in Art Brussels, as it presents a strong, international program and a unique mix of established artists and emerging talents that align with our vision. In addition to the “REDISCOVERY” section, the galleries have been divided into three more sections: PRIME, DISCOVERY, INVITED and the SOLO subsection of the fair.

In addition to having a special section to put the focus back on the work of Zush/Evru, we added Sandra Vásquez de la Horra and Gonzalo Guzmán, thus creating a dialogue between three artists of three different generations who address realities of the human condition that are not obvious. Very personal visions of the subconscious. Their own experiences serve as an engine to create unique and personal dream worlds that open spaces for reflection.

Zush/Evru

The personal aesthetic universe of the Barcelona-born artist who, under different names – Albert Porta, Zush and now Evru – has been the protagonist since the sixties of an itinerary that takes us through the most innovative expressive supports. His fluid work is rooted in his even more fluid persona, which has given rise to the Evrugian Mental State, a self-sufficient imaginary world in which he often resides to reflect on concepts such as identity, otherness and the state of being. His artworks act as tangible mediators between the audience and the dreams, emotions, creatures and beings that reside in his dream world. His work blurs the planes of dream and reality with an expression close to surrealism.

Picture of a figure doing a yoga posture

Zush/Evru. Admukarud (2008)

82,8 x 174,2 cm

Sandra Vásquez de la Horra

As a complement to Zush/Evru, Sandra Vásquez de la Horra (Viña del Mar, Chile, 1967) proceeds to work on the plane of her imagination. Her characteristic wax drawings, which could be seen in the exhibition “Meridians” (2018) and “Aura” (2022), evoke a dreamlike state of emotion and fantasy, where her internal expression deals with subversive themes of religion, sex, mythology, death and personal experiences.

Both Vasquez de la Horra and Zush share an interest in the dreamlike and the surreal, but approach these subjects from different perspectives. While Vasquez de la Horra focuses on exploring the deeper aspects of the human unconscious and deconstructing cultural taboos, Zush immerses himself in creating his own alternative worlds. However, both artists share an innate ability to capture the essence of the unreal and the fantastic in their works, inviting the viewer to reflect on the nature of reality and imagination. Like Zush/Evru, Vasquez de la Horra‘s work is rooted in the desire to embody and understand the intangible inner state.

A person looking at an exhibition of drawings hanging on a white wall

Sandra Vásquez de la Horra. “Aura”‘s exhibition view

Wax drawings

Gonzalo Guzmán

Finally, to link the dialogue, we contrast the work of these established artists with one of our latest additions to the gallery, which we exhibited during Art Nou 2023 with the exhibition “Collision“. 

Trained as an industrial designer, Gonzalo Guzmán (Madrid, 1991) began to dedicate himself to sculpture in the wake of the pandemic. During that time of chaos and uncertainty, he experienced “lucid dreams” in which he was aware of living his own dream and could control its development. In these dreams, dolmen-like figures repeatedly appeared to him and served as inspiration. The shaping of these forms in sculptures is a way of research to transfer them to reality. That is to say, the fact of materializing them makes it possible for Guzmán to interact with them on the real plane and at the same time for other people to do so. 

To intertwine Gonzalo Guzmán‘s work with that of Zush/Evru, we can highlight how both artists explore the intersection between the tangible world and the world of dreams. Both challenge the conventional perception of reality and lead us to reflect on the limits of imagination and artistic materialization. While Zush/Evru shows us the landscapes of our dreams, Guzmán offers us the opportunity to touch those ephemeral forms and bring them into the physical world.

Person and white dog in front of a steel sculpture

Gonzalo Guzmán. Dolmen_04 (2022)

190 x 270 x 100 cm

See you at Art Brussels!

For all these reasons, we are pleased to announce our twenty-first participation in the 40th edition of Art Brussels. This prestigious fair is one of the most recognized in Europe and an event marked in our calendar. With a wide variety of proposals, it represents the cultural and artistic richness of the European scene that attracts many collectors, curators, galleries, art professionals from all over the world. This year, the fair will take place at the Brussels Expo, in Halls 5 and 6, and you can find us at stand 5A-22.