Josep Renau (1907-1982) used art as a tool. argument and political criticism. He did this through posters and above all photo collagesinfluenced the next generation of artists. After the Civil War, Valencia went into exile in Mexico and ended his days in East Berlin.
Pepe Calvo was born in 1947 in Alicante. professional photographer Discovering a new world when Renau’s work gets in the way. From there, photo collage became her way of expression. But it’s a as a reflection of the cinematographic character and the personal worldmoved away from the political vision of his predecessor.
To face these two universes, talk on timean exhibition in the loop, opened on Friday at 20:00 in the hall of Alicante Fish Market. dialoguecoordinating and curating Guillermina Perales.
IVAM works
IVAM plays an important role in this exhibition that you can see. until 29 OctoberSince they came from the Valencia museum 11 works by Renau And Four of the 35 tracks featured by Calvo.
Valencians belong to his series american lifestyleWhat he did and published in East Berlin when he went into exile in Mexico after the Civil War. In this set “one US criticism He affirms that he ‘imposes’ this model of the American dream. Guillermina Perales. “It uses images of the American system itself to criticize its fiercest capitalism, warmongering, and social marginalization.”
For curator Pepe Calvo «give it a chance because he is a fan of the cinema, the image.anything that means the stylization of the image and uses the same photocollage tool but means talking about its own world ».
The works of Pepe Calvo, according to the artist himself, ” More meaning they have compared to Renau“I worked with analog photography for 30 years until I got to know the world of Renau, and since then I have lived in photo collage and created my own language”.
The artist guarantees technique looks like them «and that our work has a cinematographic point of view, because cinema unites us resolutely». What separates them: It’s mostly based on politics and my business is going other ways.I am more narrative and my work is full of mysteries».
Guillermina Perales underlines the fact that they come two different generations. “I’m very interested in the generational and geographical differences of the era in which they lived, to see what happened in forty years.”
It also celebrates its collaboration with IVAM. “He lent us 11 works from the series, the last of Renau and four of the 24 in the backdrop of Pepe Calvo, because the rest is reserved for other exhibitions»