Artizar, a pike in Madrid

Madrid,

As it approaches four decades of existence in San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Tenerife), the Artizar gallery, which is based in a 17th century house with characteristic Canarian architecture and emerged at a time when there were hardly any spaces dedicated to contemporary art on this island, has announced the upcoming opening of a room in Madrid.

Founded by Carlos E. Pinto, and currently directed by Francisco and Pedro Pinto, Artizar initially focused on the dissemination of the work of Canarian authors, and gradually, without ceasing to work for its visibility, it has also made room for peninsular artists in its programming. For a decade, he has also been developing a curatorial line specialized in contemporary Cuban creation that responds to the well-known ties between this archipelago and the Caribbean.

Throughout these forty years, the firm has participated in national and international fairs (Zona Maco, Expo Chicago or Pinta Miami), has collaborated with public and private institutions and has organized scholarships for young creators and publishing projects, a path that will be strengthened, starting next January 15, with the opening of that second headquarters in the capital: at number 6 Doctor Fourquet Street, very close to the Reina Sofía Museum and sharing a sidewalk with numerous established galleries.

There we can see individual and group exhibitions in which to discover their artists: the forceful installations of Carlos Nicanor, the precise textile creations of Romina Rivero or works by Tenerife authors such as Marco Alom, Idaira del Castillo, Santiago Palenzuela or Laura Mesa, among others. Among the peninsular artists that this gallery also represents and who will visit its Madrid branch, we can mention Paula Valdeón, Amparo Sard, Pamen Pereira or Jesús Zurita; among Cuban creators, Roberto Diago, Marta María Pérez Bravo or René Peña.

Julio Blancas. What happens while you live. Artizar Gallery Madrid

Artizar’s first exhibition at Doctor Fourquet, which will open on January 15, will be titled “What happens while you live” and will feature Julio Blancas, an artist born and trained between Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Tenerife who has a career spanning three decades. The axis of his production is the landscape, in its natural and mental meanings and in the confluences of both. This author is interested in the role of memory in our perception of reality and in the way we order and structure the environment we contemplate.

Blancas has been working primarily in the field of drawing (graphite on paper), although she has also used fabric as a support and has used objects of non-artistic origin, such as the satellite dishes that will be part of this project.

Its processes are simple, but meticulous: it starts from essential gestures drawn with a pencil to advance in different directions, superimposing lines and taking care of the light gradations that graphite allows. Its objective is to take the viewer, first, into a forest of virtuously simulated textures and evident natural echoes, to, finally, generate from that initial impression another mental landscape, which each visitor will interpret from their own background.

“What happens while you live” will consist of pieces dated from 2017 to last year that will therefore focus on what forests, stones, traces of light and hollows can not only tell us a landscape in its traditional sense, but also memories. And in which the patiently crafted lines, shadows and lights can be contemplated in the same way, without haste, generating a form of intimacy between these works and the public.

Artizar’s next milestone will arrive in May: one of its artists, Roberto Diago, will represent Cuba in the next edition of the Venice Biennale, with a project produced by the gallery and called free men.