Brussels Solo Show. Spanish Embassy in Belgium. 2021

"L'océan entier est affecté par un caillou" (Blaise Pascal)

Histoires d'identités européennes anonymes

Faces, gazes, existences of an unwritten Europe. Lives whether near or far, which are intertwined in an artist's brush. In a genre - the portrait - which has a millenary history linked to the continent from its origins and as old as its territory, from Greece in the sixth century BC, through the fifteenth century, up to today. A gallery of faces - works in oil on canvas or with mixed media on paper - which evokes and alludes to stories of anonymous European identities: Joaz, a German boy, Brazilian parents, emigrated to Germany. Julian, an Austrian philosophy student living in Rome. Alberto, a Spanish painter who has moved to London time ago. Olivia, a girl, daughter of an English father and a French mother, who has chosen to live in Seville. Atusa, twenty years old born to an Iranian father and mother, artist and model in Berlin, waiting to move to New York. Young and old, elderly and children: the sum of these identities - travelers, workers, students, dreamers, fighters - intends to evoke the meaning and significance of being European citizens, today, through the individual: beyond strictly geographical borders, reflecting on cultural identity and founding values: respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, in a Union that aims to promote peace and well-being of all its peoples, therefore of its individuals: those many small "cailloux" able invisibly but constantly to “affecté” the great ocean of life. They/ we are Europe

 

Fighting-Loving-Dreaming: My Berlin diaries

 

 

 

INSTINCT.BERLIN PRESENTS 

GONZALO ORQUÍN
fighting, loving, dreaming: my Berlin diaries 

VILLAGE/ KURFÜRSTENSTRASSE 31-32/ 10785 BERLIN 

OPENING THURSDAY JULY 29, 6 PM 

Since the beginning of his career, Gonzalo Orquín has always placed the lgbtqa+ cause at the centre of his work, focusing his attention on contemporary heroes, martyrs and fighters who are proudly gay in countries where being homosexual is still rejected, oppressed, and even sometimes punished with the death penalty. 

His 2014 photography project, Sì, quiero, which depicted same sex couples kissing in Catholic churches in Rome, provoked a huge uproar worldwide, even attracting an official warning from the Vatican to expose the work. 

From the beginning of May until the end of July, the artist Gonzalo Orquín made a residency at the Village.Berlin as part of the instinct Berlin Residency Program. The works produced during this period as well as a selection of previous paintings and drawings will be presented during the exhibition fighting, loving, dreaming: my Berlin diaries’. The first solo show of the spanish artist in Berlin.

Alongside a series of works featuring fighting people and war scenes inspired by The Disasters of War by Goya that showcase the cruelty of mutilated bodies of people fighting for their ideas, Orquín presents us a shattering painting made in memory of Hande Kader, a transgender Turkish woman and an advocate for the lgbtq rights in her country, who was killed at just 23 years old as an example. 

The violence of the pictures project us in the lives of the subjects, lives ended in tragedy, following powerful, disruptive acts in difficult social arenas where human rights are scarce. The images are taken from mass media sources, photos which we seldom see and quickly forget. Orquín doesn't give the audience any chance to escape but forces them to see and feel the pain. 

In the Berlin part of his project, the vision changes. Orquín combines portraits and images of an intimate and serene daily life. Desire and eroticism transpire not only as a source of pleasure, but also as an affirmation of freedom and identity. It denounces the fragility and the fictional aspect of homo/hetero normalcy and the paradox of the privilege of living in a free country. 

The faces and bodies present a masterful beauty, created with the charm of a timeless figurative kind of painting, which is one of the Sevillian artist’s trademarks. 

Instinct.Berlin is an experimental and collective art project focused on discussing ideas of the male/ masculinity as a physical, social and political construct in contemporary society as seen from an open spectrum of perspectives.
Instinct.Berlin presents a bi-annual art exhibition & a residency program. 

Instinct.Berlin links artists internationally and brings together young as well as more experienced artists. 

Próximo destino: Roma - Instituto Cervantes - 27 Giugno-14 luglio 2018

GONZALO ORQUÍN

PRÓXIMO DESTINO: ROMA

Instituto Cervantes di Roma

Sala Dalí, piazza Navona 91

Roma

Inaugurazione: mercoledì 27 giugno 2018 ore 19.00 alla presenza di D. Jesús Gracia Aldaz Ambasciatore di Spagna in Italia

Apertura al pubblico: giovedì 28 giugno 2018 – sabato 14 luglio 2018

 

La Siria e i (nuovi) Disastri della guerra, l’identità di genere, la cultura e la conoscenza come strumenti di civiltà in grado di creare ponti fra le Nazioni, già secoli prima della nascita dell’Europa unita: riflette sul passato, ma citando il presente e affrontando temi di grande attualità, la mostra di Gonzalo Orquín, commissionata all’artista spagnolo (Siviglia, 1982) dall’Instituto Cervantes di Roma. 

Próximo destino:Roma” è il titolo scelto per la rassegna, ospitata negli spazi dell’Instituto Cervantes di Piazza navona, che presenta circa venti opere pittoriche inedite che evocano, in chiave contemporanea, la presenza di alcuni artisti spagnoli in Italia, a Roma in particolare, attraverso i secoli. La mostra, realizzata con il patrocinio dell’Ambasciata di Spagna in Italia, resterà aperta al pubblico fino al 14 luglio 2018. 

In un gioco concettuale tra il rebus e l’enigma, e grazie alla potenza di una pittura classica, atemporale, figurativa, Gonzalo Orquín ha dato vita a un insieme di opere nelle quali uno o più elementi rimandano al loro “autore-fonte”, ma senza emulazione di stile, né diretta mimesi.

Dai maestri più noti - Velázquez, Ribera, Goya, Picasso – fino a nomi oggi forse meno noti ma che in passato ebbero una certa importanza - quali Eduardo Rosales o Mariano Salvador Maella – l’artista realizza dei personalissimi omaggi in un suo percorso di ricerca fatto più di allusioni che di citazioni dirette.

Tra gli artisti scelti e rappresentati in questa antologia di presenze spagnole su suolo italico, anche una singolare “coppia” di pensionados, compagni di strada nella Roma della fine degli anni Venti del Novecento, in pieno fascismo, presso la Real Academia de España. Si tratta di Gregorio Prieto (1897-1992), pittore e fotografo, omosessuale, nome associato alla Generazione del 27; e di Maria de Pablos Cerezo (1904-1990), prima donna in assoluto a ottenere, nel 1927, una borsa di studi con relativo soggiorno presso l’Accademia del Gianicolo. Non un’artista plastica, unica eccezione in questa mostra, bensì una musicista, pianista, compositrice e pioniera come direttrice d’orchestra donna, morta in un sanatorio psichiatrico.

In occasione della mostra è stato realizzato un catalogo con testi di Gianni Papi e Cesare Biasini Selvaggi e con un’introduzione di D. Jesús Gracia Aldaz, Ambasciatore di Spagna in Italia.

INFORMAZIONI:

Sala Dalí

Piazza Navona 91

Orari: dal mercoledì al sabato dalle 16:00 alle 20:00, fino al 14 luglio

Info: www.roma.cervantes.es

www.gonzaloorquin.com

Ingresso libero

UFFICIO STAMPA 

Flaminia Casucci - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - 339/4953676

Allegra Seganti - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - 335/5362856

 

 

LIBROGRAFIE solo show Washington DC October 30 th

LIBROGRAFIE solo show Washington DC October 30 th

logo_the_bridge.jpg

The Literary Prize The Bridge/ Il Ponte designed and Promoted by The House of Literature in Rome is pleased to present the Exhibition:

Gonzalo Orquín

LIBROGRAFIE

 

Opening reception October 30 th

Italian Cultural Institue of Washington

3000 Whitehaven Street NW Washington DC 2008