Zoran Music

Atelier, 1983.
Huile sur papier marouflé sur bois
28 x 42

Anton Zoran Music nace un 11 de febrero de 1909 en Gorizia (Italia) que por aquellos años formaba parte del Imperio Austro-húngaro. Tras una inicial fascinación por la pintura de Klimt y Schiele que conoce en sus estancias familiares en Viena, y gracias a los consejos de su maestro en la Academia de Bellas Artes de Zagreb, el pintor croata Babic, Music se traslada a España en 1935 donde, al tiempo que recorre los amplios y extensos paisajes castellanos, pasa largas sesiones de trabajo en el Museo del Prado como copista de El Greco y de Goya, cuyo romanticismo negro tanto le iba a influir en su obra posterior.

El estallido de la Guerra Civil española le lleva a Dalmacia y allí descubre los paisajes semidesérticos y petrificados de Carso, y el comienzo de la Segunda Guerra Mundial lo conduce a Venecia, ciudad en la que ya en 1943 realiza su primera exposición individual y en la que en 1944 será arrestado por la Gestapo, acusado de participar con los grupos antinazis, y deportado al campo de concentración y de exterminio de Dachau. Allí ejecutará en una suerte de fiebre creativa unos ciento ochenta dibujos de cuerpos de sus compañeros muertos que pueden considerarse el germen de la serie de pinturas ejecutadas entre 1970 y 1975, No somos los últimos, una serie de «muertos colectivos» que Music entiende como el grito de la humanidad eternamente sufriente, como la evidencia de un traumatismo colectivo más allá de todo rasgo individual.

Tras distintas estancias en Venecia, Music se instala en París en 1952 y trabaja en una pintura cuyas apariencias abstractas esconden constantes recuerdos de los paisajes áridos de Dalmacia (Tierras dálmatas y Paisajes rocosos) y de la luz y el cielo de Venecia. En París realiza también aguafuertes en el taller Lacourière, por los que en 1956 recibe el gran premio de arte gráfico en la Bienal de Venecia, y en 1957 el premio de arte gráfico en la Bienal de Lubiana. A partir de 1972, tras una primera presentación retrospectiva de su trabajo en el Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, se inician las antológicas de su obra, destacando la de 1977 en Darmstadt, la de 1992 en la Albertina de Viena, compuesta de dibujos, y la de las Galeries nationales du Grand Palais en París en 1995, en la que junto a los paisajes aparecen nuevas series del artista, sus Autorretratos (1987) y Talleres (1990).

[Anna Maria Guasch. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza]

Ellen Altfest

The tree, 2001.
Oil on canvas
152.4 x 114.3

Ellen Altfest converteix l'acte de pintar en un exercici de meditació. Amb un hiperealisme gairebé obsessiu, pinzellada rere pinzellada confereix vida a cada detall, a cada objecte, a cada paisatge o personatge. És així com les seves pintures connecten a l'instant amb els significats que conservem a la nostra memòria. Si Magritte va escriure "això no és una pipa" a la seva paradigmática pipa, Altfest sembla escriure "això és la pipa".

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Ellen Altfest convierte el acto de pintar en un ejercicio de meditación. Con un hiperealismo casi obsesivo, pincelada tras pincelada confiere vida a cada detalle, a cada objeto, a cada paisaje o personaje. Es así como sus pinturas conectan al instante con los significados que conservamos en nuestra memoria. Si Magritte escribió "esto no es una pipa" en su paradigmática pipa, Alfest parece escribir "esto es la pipa". Ellen Altfest turns the act of painting in an exercise of meditation. With an almost obsessive hyper-realism, brushstroke after brushstroke awards life to every detail, to every object, to every landscape or personage. In this way her paintings connect with the meanings that we preserve in our memory. If Magritte wrote " this is not a pipe" in his paradigmatic pipe, Alfest seems to write " this is the pipe". Ellen Altfest change l'acte de peindre dans un exercice de méditation. Avec un hiperealisme presque obsédant, un coup de pinceau après un coup de pinceau attribue une vie à chaque détail, à chaque objet, à chaque paysage ou un personnage. Ses peintures connectent à l'instant avec les signifiés que nous conservons dans notre mémoire. Si Magritte a écrit "ce n'est pas une pipe" dans sa pipe paradigmatique, Alfest semble écrire "c'est la pipe".

Cecily Brown

The fugitive kind.
Oli sobre lli; 229x190

Cecily Brown (born 1969 in London) is a British painter. She has a great respect for art history and her works reveal her reverence and high regard for artists such as Francisco de Goya, Nicolas Poussin, Willem de Kooning, and Joan Mitchell while incorporating into her works her distinct female view point.

Cecily Brown studied B-TEC Diploma in Art and Design at Epsom School of Art, Surrey, England (1985-87), drawing and printmaking classes, Morley College, London, 987-89, and BA in Fine Arts, Slade School of Art, London (1989-93),Brown’s work has appeared at the Whitney Biennial 2004 in New York, The Triumph of Painting at the Saatchi Gallery, London and “Greater New York” at P.S. 1, New York. She has shown at galleries and museums including Contemporary Fine Arts in Berlin, MACRO in Rome and Museum der Moderna, Salzburg. She is represented by Gagosian Gallery.

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Brown's paintings combine figuration and abstraction. Expanding the tradition of abstract expressionism, she draws her influences from painters such as Willem de Kooning. Her paintings also recall the works of Philip Guston and the Bay Area Figurative School of the 1950s and 1960s. Brown often titles her paintings after classic Hollywood films, such as The Pyjama Game and The Fugitive Kind.Brown's work has attracted the attention of collectors including Elton John and Michael Ovitz. She has become known for her painting style suggestive of abstract and abstract expressionist painters such as de Kooning and Oskar Kokoschka. Sexuality and attraction are important themes in her work, which she explores through semi-figurative and abstract means. Her paintings are in the permanent collections of several important museums and institutions including the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, in Buffalo, New York and the Des Moines Art Center, in Des Moines, Iowa (in 2006 the Des Moines Art Center organized Brown's first one-person museum exhibition in the U.S. - an exhibition that later travelled to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston as well).Cecily Brown is the daughter of Shena Mackay, the Booker-shortlisted novelist, and David Sylvester, one of Britain's leading art critics.
[Wikipedia]

Paul Johnson

Sister, 2006.
Hand coloured paper on board, 75 x 55.

Born in 1972, currently lives and works in London, Johnson is known for his detailed collages constructed of hand coloured and cut paper that concurrently possesses an element of painting. He had exibited internationaly and in the UK, in 2008 he is included in a group show at Saatchi Gallery "New Britannia".

[Mizuma Art Gallery]

Mat Collishaw

Madonna, 2002.

Ceramic, cement, wood, paint. 425x258

Mat Collishaw (born 1961, Nottingham, UK) is an artist based in London.Collishaw attended Goldsmiths, University of London (1986-9), alongside the likes of Damien Hirst and other prominent YBAs.His first show outside United Kingdom was in Geneva, at Analix Forever Gallery. He has shown work internationally in many important exhibitions including “Freeze” at Surrey Docks in London, “Controlled” at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in New York, “The Parable Show” at Galerie Grimm/Rosenfeld in Munich, “Sensation” at the Royal Academy of Art in London and “The Passing” at Galeria Helga de Alvear in Madrid. He is represented by Grimm/Rosenfeld in Munich, Tanya Bonakdar in New York and Cosmic Gallerie in Paris.He was represented for a time by the Lisson Gallery and had a relationship with Tracey Emin. His work uses photography and video.

His best known work is Bullet Hole which is a closeup photo of a bullet hole in a head, mounted on 15 light boxes. Since then is work has changed to deal with elements of fantasy and illusion - notably fairies.Mat Collishaw biggest break came in 1997 when he featured in the infamous ‘Sensation’ exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art in London. In ‘Sensation’, Collishaw displayed large scale tiled photographs of a bullet wound in a head; this work is a good indicator of Collishaw’s artistic interests and practices. He typically takes imagery which is at once shocking yet strangely beautiful in order to examine the beguiling nature of photography and the seduction of visual imagery. Collishaw uses contemporary images alongside techniques and styles which are reminiscent of much older art, for example he often utilises a mosaic effect which, while alluding to religious art and Ancient Rome, is also now associated with pixelated digital imagery. In this way Collishaw brings together a variety of connotations in one piece that is both traditional and contemporary; dichotomies of life and death and attraction and repulsion are central to Collishaw’s art which tests our natural responses to disquieting imagery when dressed as sacred, slick or stunning.

Known most widely for his photographs and videos, Collishaw’s work now stretches to installation, drawing and painting.Mat Collishaw was raised a Christadelphian. His parents chose not to have a TV, celebrate Christmas or birthdays.

[Wikipedia]

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Artista británico. Estudia primero en el Politécnico de Trent (1985-1986) y después en el Goldmiths College de Londres (1986-1989). Durante su estancia en esta escuela Damien Hirst le invita a participar en la mítica muestra “Freeze” (1988) que contribuyó de manera decisiva al lanzamiento de los yBa (Young British Artists).

Su obra gira en torno a obsesiones como el sexo, la violencia o la depravación. Uno de sus trabajos más conocidos, con el cual se dio a conocer en “Freeze”, es Bullet Hole, compuesto por quince cajas de luz que iluminan una fotografía en primer plano de una herida en la cabeza. Otra de sus piezas, Ultraviolet baby, muestra el vídeo de un bebé al que se le está cambiando el pañal. Esta imagen de inocencia aparece bañada en una luz azulada reminiscente de la luz ultravioleta que se utiliza en los urinarios públicos para evitar que los drogadictos puedan pincharse. Esta clase de contrastes y paradojas entre luz y oscuridad, inocencia y perversidad, vertebran la obra del creador británico que saca buen partido de los sentimientos encontrados que el espectador siente ante sus imágenes.

Su trabajo ha podido ser visto en individuales como “Live/Life”, en el Museo de Arte Moderno de París (1996) o “Ultraviolet Baby”, en el Shoreditch Town Hall de Londres (2001) y en colectivas como la mencionada “Freeze” en Surrey Docks, Londres (1988) o "Sensation", en la Royal Academy of Art, Londres (1997).

[Masdearte]

Chantal Joffe

Black Camisole, 2004. Oil on board 336 x 290

Marlene Dumas

Jule-die Vrou, 1985. Oil on canvas 125x105

Marlene Dumas was born in Cape Town, South Africa. She studied at the University of Cape Town from 1972 to 1975 and moved to the Netherlands on a scholarship when she was 23. She's been living in Amsterdam for many years.She often uses reference material of polaroid photographs of her friends and lovers, whilst she also references magazines and pornographic material. Marlene Dumas also paints portraits of children and erotic scenes to impact the world of contemporary art.

She has said that her works are better appreciated as originals since many of her smaller sexual works are very intimate.She has also worked with students, finding that "teaching [is] a very important thing, and not only because I teach [the students] things, but also because we have a dialogue, and you see what you really want. You find things out. I still believe in the Socratic dialogue. Art is really something that you learn from being around people."Her first major American museum exhibition, a midcareer retrospective entitled "Measuring Your Own Grave", opened in June 2008 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

[Wikipedia]