Exhibition "Luis Gordillo. Tell me who you are"

Alcalá 31 Hall
La Alcalá 31 Hall presents "tell me who are you", an exhibition that brings together an extensive selection of works by Luis Gordillo from the last twenty years and analyzes in depth the most outstanding lines of research from this last period. Two decades in which Gordillo has put painting at the center, with special importance to the constant feedback that exists between it and photography, the collage and drawing, a very characteristic territory of the artist in which the image in process defines internal configurations that build the work.
A field, that of painting, which in this XNUMXst century has freed itself from narrow self-definitions and thinks of the image as something aquatic, as things that go away and are lost, like water goes between the hands. In this sense, the works in this exhibition are understood as containers whose function is to give an external form to what flows, to what ends. Although everything in his last painting is about to begin.
This exhibition is linked to the exhibition that the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía dedicated to him in 2007, the year in which the artist was awarded the Velázquez Prize for Plastic Arts. Thus, "tell me who you are" it begins with the piece that closed that exhibition to later delve into the artistic corpus that has been configuring since then. With the hectic and active pulse that transmits the energy of an artist who at 89 is still active and with a clear influence on new generations, the Sala Alcalá 31 organizes the largest retrospective of his work in Madrid since then.
In the last two decades, his way of painting remains the same: the artist is always in the painting but not always painting. Luis Gordillo has had a certain aversion to placing himself within a single channel, not only in relation to a theoretical or concept question, but rather to a question of character, way of being and, above all, way of feeling. From this constant reflection, experimentation is born, the key word of this project. The artist puts painting at the center, placing the focus on the symbiosis that exists between it and photography, collage and drawing, increasingly prolific fields of escape in his artistic work. Although, above all, what he proposes in this exhibition is a celebration of a unique creative capacity, that of an artist who, at 89 years old, is still active and has a clear influence on new generations.
Luis Gordillo He was born in Seville in 1934, the second son of eight siblings. He studies law and music and later decides to be a painter. He attended the Seville School of Fine Arts for two years. From 1958 to 1960 he lived in Paris where he thoroughly studied museums, cinematheques, and above all lived a climate of freedom of life and reading that was then difficult in Spain. Upon leaving Paris, he entered into a crisis and did not paint again until 1963, returning to a pop aesthetic with his famous series Cabezas. Starting in 1970, he began to paint pictures full of color and with a new element: irony. In the 80s, his painting became more abstract and less colourful, but he continued to preserve the influence that mechanical techniques such as offset, photography or, more recently, the computer, as part of his extensive research on the transformation of images and the media.
Velázquez Prize for Plastic Arts 2007, National Prize for Plastic Arts in 1981, Community of Madrid Prize for Plastic Creation and the Andalusian Prize for Plastic Arts in 1991, CEOE Prize for Plastic Arts in 1992, Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts in 1996, the Tomás Francisco Prieto Award from the Casa de la Moneda in 1999, the Ciutat de Barcelona Award for Plastic Arts in 2000, the Aragón-Goya Painting Award in 2003 and the Gold Medal from the Círculo de Bellas Artes of Madrid in 2004. He has been distinguished in 2008 with the Order of Knight of Arts and Letters of France by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.
Hours and more information
Site: Alcalá 31 Hall
Dates: September 27, 2023 - January 14, 2024
Exhibition hours*:
From Tuesday to Saturday. from 11.00:20.30 a.m. to 12:1 p.m. (October 9, November 6 and 8, December XNUMX and XNUMX)
Sundays: from 11.00:14.00 a.m. to XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.
Closed: Monday, December 24, 25 and 31, January 1 and 6.
*Access to the room up to 10 minutes before closing
Free entrance and activities
IMPORTANT: It is not necessary to book a ticket in advance, if you are going to visit this exhibition individually. if you want to go on group (10-25 people) you must reserve your pass(es) by phone (91 720 82 51 available during room opening hours. Closed Mondays).
featured piece
These weeks...
Featured Piece: Payseyes 2 ABC 2015
- Dates: Sundays December 3, 10 and 17, January 14 at 11.30:XNUMX a.m.
- Duration: 20 minutes
- Aimed at: All public
- Location: meeting point marked according to the outstanding piece of the month
- Design and realization: Didark. Didactics and Culture
- Free admission (limited capacity). No reservations are made in advance
Every 4 Sundays we will change the room and, for about 15-20 minutes, we will analyze its characteristics, style and peculiarities with the visitors.
Featured Pieces: Dreaming 2018 y Cabezoids A, B, C, D, E (2018) FINISHED
Sundays 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 October at 11.30:XNUMX a.m.
Featured Piece: CHORUS (four mixed voices) 2023 FINISHED
Sundays 5, 12, 19 and 26 November at 11.30:XNUMX a.m.
Guided tours
- Dates and times:
- Tuesday: October 3, 17, 24 and 31, November 7, 14, 21 and 28, December 5, 12 and 19, January 2 and 9 at 19.00:XNUMX p.m.
- Sundays: October 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29, November 5, 12, 19 and 26, December 3, 10 and 17, January 14 at 12.00 noon.
- New dates: Tuesday and Friday January 16, 19, 23, 26 and 30, February 2, 9, 13, 16, 20, 23 and 27 and March 1, 5 and 8 at 19.00:XNUMX p.m.
- Duration: 50 minutes
- Aimed at: All public
- Location: Alcalá 31 Hall
- Design and realization: Didark. Didactics and Culture
- Free activity
Do you want to come with your group?
In this temporary exhibition we do not offer guided tours for groups. But if you want to come with your center, association... and your own guide or mediation service, you are welcome.
We encourage you to consult the teaching materials online -CLICK HERE-. We will also offer two sessions online on Thursday 5 and Monday 9 October at 19.00:XNUMX p.m. through the ZOOM platform. In these connections we will present some content that could be useful for you in order to prepare your future visit to the temporary exhibition.
To avoid crowds...
- Reserve your pass(es) by phone from Wednesday, September 27 at 11.00:XNUMX a.m. Those groups that have done so will have priority access to the exhibition. Phone 91 720 82 51 *
- Groups should be between 10 and 25 people. Groups that exceed 25 people must divide into two and access the exhibition with an interval of 15 minutes.
- The passes will be from Tuesday to Friday from 11.00:18.00 a.m. to XNUMX:XNUMX p.m. In the rest of the time slots and during the weekends it is not possible to access in groups.
- The group must be punctual.
(*) Operating telephone from September 27 at 11.00:11.00 a.m. during office hours - from Tuesday to Saturday, from 20.30:11.00 a.m. to 14.00:XNUMX p.m. and Sundays from XNUMX:XNUMX a.m. to XNUMX:XNUMX p.m. Closed Monday-. [Check the information on data protection]
Workshop for schoolchildren Primary Education
We want to invite you to participate with your Primary Education groups in the school workshop that we have organized on the occasion of this exhibition, a free activity aimed at schoolchildren from 6 years of age in which we will learn more about their artistic works from a creative point of view. and participatory.
Together with the ArtStories mediation team, we will talk about painting, we will observe the colors and we will play with the plasticity of Gordillo's work in these workshop format sessions that will take place in the same space, located in the central calle Alcalá 31, several Wednesday and Thursday October, November, February and March at 11.00:XNUMX a.m. (duration 90 minutes).
If you would like to attend this activity you will simply have to call us at 91 720 82 51 (Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 20.30:11 p.m. or Sundays from 14 a.m. to XNUMX p.m. Closed Mondays) and tell us
- Name of the Educational Center.
- Name, email and contact telephone number of the responsible people who will attend with the group that day.
- School year and total number of participants per workshop (minimum 15 and maximum 26)
- The date that best suits you (availability will be limited and we will attend to your emails by rigorous order of arrival of the requests until completing all the sessions).
- If it is necessary that we adapt the activity for a participant who requires special needs that we must attend to.
*[Check the information on data protection]
Footnotes with...
What better way to discover or revisit this exhibition by accompanying it with the music that the artist listens to while creating his works? Luis Gordillo is one of the active members of the pictorial avant-garde and no less so are the musical styles that he takes as a reference and inspiration during his creative processes.
For four Saturdays, the Sala Alcalá 31 hosts three solo musicians who will perform various pieces in different parts of the exhibition space with a repertoire marked by jazz and contemporary classical pieces, styles that the Sevillian artist has among his favorite musical repertoire when it comes to inspiration. .
Date and Time: Saturdays February 17, 24, March 2 and 9, 2024 from 12.00:14.00 to XNUMX:XNUMX p.m.
Free entry until complete seats
Virtual tour
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Curator: bea mirror
Organized by: Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sport. DG of Cultural Promotion. General Subdirectorate of Fine Arts
Phone: 91 720 82 51* (Only active during exhibition hours)
Free admission (limited capacity): it is not necessary to reserve a ticket in advance, unless you want to visit the exhibition in a group (see conditions in COME WITH YOUR GROUP)
Free activities
E-mail: museosexposiciones@madrid.org *
Press contact: comunicacion.espaciosarte@madrid.org *
* [Check the information on data protection]
Metro: Sol (Line 1, 2, 3) or Sevilla (Line 2)
EMT: Buses 46, M2, 9, 2 and 150
BICIMAD Station: Puerta del Sol (1) / Bank of Spain A