Isidro Blasco presents a Brooklyn-inspired exhibition in Alicante and Madrid
Isidro Blasco balances his practice across sculpture, photography, painting, architecture, and installation. He blends traditional craftsmanship with contemporary techniques to leave a personal imprint on his work. The artist, born in 1960, opens a major exhibition in Alicante in the Lonja hall next Friday, titled Surface Detail, a debut in the city that signals a new momentum in his career.
The exhibition unfolds in two rooms of the venue, where six large-format works anchor a body of installations. Blasco builds structures from multiple wooden supports that hold together layers of images, creating a dialogue of volume and perspective that deconstructs the surrounding environment. These pieces are wooden frames carrying photographs that convey reality through carefully cut fragments.
Among the new works, two pieces stand out. The first, Train Rises in Brooklyn, conceived the same year for the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum as part of a broader show on hyperreal art and trompe l’oeil. The work measures 5 by 4 meters in height and 3 meters in width, formed by 18 layered photographs captured in a New York neighborhood, producing an immersive, almost architectural illusion.
Blasco describes this piece as crucial for his career because it connected a historic survey of art from the 14th century to contemporary practices with a significant show at a major museum. He notes the challenge was met with a piece that he is thrilled with and hopes viewers in Alicante will be able to experience firsthand.
The second work, There’s No Place Like Home, debuted at the Conde Duque venue in Madrid the previous year. It is described as an artifact that invites viewers to enter and move within. Blasco explains a shift toward fewer photographs to emphasize the installation’s structure and the traversal it offers, guiding audiences through the space.
The piece responds to the pandemic era and holds a personal resonance for the artist, who spent 25 years in New York before Madrid’s lockdown redirected him. He uses photographs from his Brooklyn home, but the travel restrictions and the city’s shifts have left a lasting imprint. He reflects on staying in Madrid as a form of creative looping, a decision that adds a layer of introspection to the work.
In addition to the central installations, four smaller sculptures are on display until November 27. These works lean toward photography in tone and scale and reference Blasco’s long relationship with New York, depicting scenes such as a Brooklyn apartment and the streets at the subway entrance. For him, these spaces are intimate places where daily life unfolds, and they powerfully echo the installation’s broader narrative.
Isidro Blasco’s exhibition at Madrid’s Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum extends a broader dialogue with his Brooklyn-based imagery and his ongoing exploration of the border between illusion and physical presence. The works at Conde Duque are complemented by a room full of studies, ceramics, and preparatory drawings from the last two years. The setup invites visitors to witness the progression from sketches to final works, a process Blasco describes as a rare opportunity to reveal the mental and practical steps behind his production.
Blasco notes that he seldom shows drawings, but when he does, they carry substantial information and clues about the thought process behind the final pieces. The drawings and preparatory materials were included in Madrid Contemporary Art Fair, ARCO, highlighting the trajectory of his recent projects and the confidence in sharing the creative method with a wider audience.
The exhibition’s catalog features a concise text by David Mud, who emphasizes the tension between illusion and material presence. Mud describes how Blasco’s work blends painting, sculpture, and installation, with photographs distorting chromatic perception to explore social and domestic themes that are both public and private. The result is a carefully balanced interplay of material, structure, and chaos that defines Blasco’s distinctive practice.
Blasco is also presenting a large installation at the Manhattan Children’s Museum, a maze-like structure designed to engage visitors, especially younger audiences, in playful exploration. This project extends Blasco’s interest in interactive spaces where viewers become participants in a visually rich environment.
Overall, the exhibition highlights Blasco’s ability to fuse image, form, and space. His work navigates the tension between photographic realism and sculptural presence, offering viewers a multi-sensory encounter that blends memory, place, and identity. The show invites audiences to experience the artist’s Brooklyn-influenced mentality across different venues, underscoring his significance in contemporary art practice .