Spanish Young Art: The New Generation

Contemporary Spanish art has entered into one of the most creative periods of its history. These young artists’ creations have captured the attention of top agents throughout the art world. Critics, gallerists, dealers, museums, etc. support their work and pay them well-deserved recognition through awards, excellent reviews, shows and purchases.
All the artists selected for this exhibition were born between 1970 and 1980. This decade has spawned a whole generation of artists that has revamped the Spanish art scene from all points of view. Broadly speaking, the trend that was followed in previous decades pulled away from the importance of the message to focus on the importance of the language and aesthetic - form over content. However, the direction taken by this new generation is quite different. What best characterizes these artists is their creation of a committed art, full of content and meaning. Their masterpieces are not outside the context in which they are generated, but also interact with the reality that surrounds us, from the point of view of society, history, communication, human relationships and from the art system itself. Without any doubt, these are eclectic artists who are able to transform their ideas into creative masterpieces that everyone is sure to appreciate.

Javier Arce, Cristina Cañas, Óscar Carrasco, Carles Congost, Ángel Hernández Tuset, Cristina Lucas, Pablo Pérez Sanmartín and Fernando Sanchéz Castillo represent a perfect example of what is happening with contemporary Spanish art of the 21st century; a new generation of artists who will go into the annals of art history in Spain.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Javier Arce  (Cantabria, 1973)
The artist Javier Arce reflects on the meaning of the greatest artworks in the history of art that have now become real icons. These icons have been reproduced in such great number that they have become “dispensable” objects. He contemplates the value of the original piece and its conversion into a mass-produced object, the value of the author’s signature, and the new situation with museums now dominated by advertising and merchandising.  To sum up, he analyzes the production of images and its subjugation to consumerism.
María Cañas (Sevilla, 1972)
The Sevillian artist, María Cañas, describes and recognizes herself as a video artist. Her artistic process is mainly based on the recycling and the appropriationism of images throughout the artistic experimentation developed on her website, www.animalario.tv. María examines the clichés and stereotypes of the Spanish identity through her extravagant compositions, which are full of humor.
Oscar Carrasco (Barcelona, 1976)
Oscar Carrasco uses photography as his means of expression. He feels attracted to the beauty of abandonment and decadence; he immortalizes spaces forgotten by humans, human buildings devoid of any kind of humanity.
The astonishing perspectives depicted by Carrasco are reminiscent of the great masters of the Renaissance and their architectural compositions dominated by the laws of symmetry and proportion. His works remind us of the period of European Romanticism, when artists, philosophers,  and writers (Piranessi, Ruskin...) were interested in the ruin, the beauty and the aesthetic value of time.
Carles Congost (Olot, 1970)
Carles Congost uses video, photography and installation as instruments to articulate a complex and ironic discourse involving the complicated system of the art world. He utilizes images related to the pop world, the teenager universe and mass culture to question such things as the creation of idols and stars by the mass-media. His personal aesthetic refers to media such as comic books, video-clips, B movies and TV.
Ángel Hernández Tuset (Madrid, 1977)
Tuset is one of the few young artists who continues to use painting as a means of expression, although he works with other methods as well. His most recent work is characterized by a dirtier, sketchy, and colorist manner; he focuses his interests on communication, information and discursive interferences. His paintings explore the information overload we are exposed to and the isolation experienced by the modern-day individual.
Cristina Lucas (Jaén, 1973)
Cristina Lucas focuses her time on researching power structures from the point of view of cultural and gender criticism. Using different media such as video, installation, photography and drawing, she develops art pieces with an apparently innocent aesthetic critiquing with irony the patriarchal discourses.
Pablo Pérez Sanmartín (Pontevedra, 1980)
Pablo Pérez Sanmartín is noted for his eminent pop style. He works with very different means such as serial digital drawings, digital projections, inflatable sculptures, T-shirts, stickers, commercial polyptychs... all of them with apparently soullessness. But over this superficial emptiness, Pablo brings  out strong subjects. The banality of life, the beauty of mutation and the futility of pop trends are some recurring topics in his work. His aesthetic is influenced by music culture, B movies, advertising language, design and teenage subcultures.
Fernando Sánchez Castillo (Madrid, 1970)
This artist is especially interested in a revolutionary subject; the politics and the violence in the history of  our societies and in the current world. Throughout his artistic language he tries to expose the darkest moments of Spain’s history, ones that were forgotten by other disciplines like philosophy or history. Furthermore, his artwork interacts with existing politics and social issues in Spain. His work is inspired by the building of power and its symbolism. His artistic practice tends to be conceptual, alluding to the collective memory and demonstrating the power of certain symbols in our current society.

For more information, please visit www.chicago.cervantes.es

The Instituto Cervantes is a public, not-for-profit institution founded by the government of Spain in 1991 to promote Spanish language teaching and knowledge of the cultures of Spanish-speaking countries throughout the world. It is now the largest international Spanish teaching organization and has more than 70 centers on 5 continents.