Abraham Lacalle

THE CAC MÁLAGA PRESENTS NEW WORK BY ABRAHAM LACALLE

The Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga is presenting the exhibition Tríptico de Málaga (Malaga Triptych) by Abraham Lacalle, a project specifically designed for the CAC’s central display space. Curated by Fernando Francés, the exhibition features three large-format canvases and seventeen drawings devoted to one subject: battlefields. Each painting offers a precise image of these combats, which go further than mere military engagements and are rather a reflection on the internal conflicts between human beings and their relationship with the external world. Lacalle frequently refers to these “battles” in order to construct a critique of today’s society: the banalisation of fundamental themes and issues and the saturation of images through the mass media. Another important element in the artist’s works is colour, reflected in a palette of flat, primary shades applied in a distinctive, striking manner. Abraham Lacalle lives and works in Madrid.

16 January to 15 March 2015

“Painting supports different stories and one of them is the situation one lives in: our permeability in relation to society. At the present time disaster is better represented by an empty and broken glass than a bomb that has gone off somewhere around the world”, in the words of Abraham Lacalle (born Almería, 1962) with regard to the influences on his work. The CAC Málaga is now presenting Malaga Triptych, featuring previously unexhibited works in the form of three canvases and twenty drawings specifically created for this exhibition. Their subject matter is battlefields, although not in a strictly military sense: rather the conflict is shifted to human beings’ internal conflicts in terms of their relationship with the exterior.

For Fernando Francés, director of the CAC Málaga: “In his work Abraham Lacalle establishes an interplay of dual terms that are not necessarily antagonistic and which encourage us to embark on journeys between our interior and exterior. Rather than travels these are wanderings characterised by adventures and surprises, which help to make his work a truly emotional experience. Like other Spanish artists of the late 20^th century and the new generation of the 21^st century, Lacalle is heir to the Spanish pictorial tradition that emerged in the mid-1980s, moving towards abstraction and reflecting the principal social movements of the time. The artist takes cover behind these emotions in order to offer a mordant, committed critique of the current social situation. Focusing on over-exposure in the media and the voracity of the culture of the image, which can perfectly bury any argument once and for all with the weapons that it has to hand, Lacalle makes use of the full range of artillery to construct a reflection on contemporary themes and unresolved issues present in today’s society.”

In his “battlefields” Lacalle suggests a journey that starts with self-analysis in order to finally succumb in the face of contemporary reality, which is currently immersed in a devastating phase, in the artist’s opinion. The three large-scale canvases in the exhibition visually document this odyssey of the human being using devices and resources characteristic of this artist, such as the generous use of colour, autobiographical elements and even a degree of licence in the inclusion of ironic and sarcastic notes.

In the first canvas, Un iconoclasta anda suelto (An Iconoclast on the Loose) (2014), the narrative begins with a desert-like landscape that seems to have been used for agriculture in some way but which is now abandoned. We see a ruined building that could be interpreted as the artist’s own studio, of which almost nothing survives, covered over at the side by invasive vegetation and with the incongruous presence of a UFO, which initially strikes a discordant note but which the artist explains in terms of the sense of humour that he aims to bring to his work. Atocha (2014), the second canvas in the series, depicts a jungle with a soldier and a wild animal. The peace exuded by this landscape is ruptured by the firing of a tank in the centre of the image. Finally, in Boztezo (Yawn) (2014) Lacalle offers an apocalyptic scene showing an area of ground that has been bombed after a battle. The colour of the sky, the ravaged tees and what seems to be a human being who has perished during the battle together produce a devastating image.

Abraham Lacalle belongs to the generation of painters that emerged in the 1980s. Over the course of his career he has focused on different themes and his most recent works involve a critique of the psychological state of society, which is insufficiently active and too hedonistic in his opinion. For Lacalle, painting is a way of channelling different states, such as indignation, ambition or hopes. It is, in other words, a vehicle for social communication.

In his painting Lacalle aims to attract attention and to achieve a degree of liberation. His work involves a range of different styles ranging from the figurative to the abstract. Another defining feature of his output is the use of colour, based on striking tones. Lacalle has said that he has been obsessed with colour since childhood and that he deploys it to give his works profundity. In his canvases it seems as if the painting does not end at the physical margins, thus extending his narratives beyond what can be seen at first sight and encouraging individual reflection on our immediate context. As a result, the viewer becomes an active agent in the entire artistic process.

Contemporary society is not Lacalle’s only focus of interest and he also looks at the major artistic and literary movements of the 20^th century from an ironic viewpoint. His work includes literary references to authors such as Jack Kerouac, Cormac McCarthy and Thomas Bernhard. These references have subsequently become the subject of paintings.

Abraham Lacalle (born Almería, 1962) trained in Seville and currently lives in Madrid. He began his artistic career in the 1980s and in 1989 held his first solo exhibition at the Galería Fúcares in Madrid. Lacalle’s work has been included in museum and gallery exhibitions both in Spain and abroad. He took part in the Art Espagnol Contemporain exhibition (Marlborough Monaco, 2003) and in the XXXVI Prix International d’Art Contemporain organised by the Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco. Lacalle’s work is represented in numerous public collections in Spain’s principal cultural institutions.

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