The eighteen painters and sculptors comprising ACTA 88 bear witness to the general panorama of plastic arts in Madrid at a particular moment in time. This exhibition enables the artistic output and circumstances surrounding the epoch to be recorded, representing a kind of cross-section of the most up-to-date creativity in Spain.
The exhibit is held in the Palacio de Velázquez in the Retiro Park and coincides with the ARCO 88 art fair, a great opportunity to maximise the synergies generated by both events.
The artists present have been selected among those to have held individual exhibitions in Madrid galleries between 1986-1987, with most of them represented with works created just for the occasion.
Far from highlighting determined trends that could be included in national and international art movements, Acta 88 looks towards diversity and the individual character of each artist. Thus, it is a genuine testimony to the complexity and plurality of the Spanish art in the immediate present.
Although all the artists are young, two generations also co-exist in this selection - Juan Suárez, Elena del Rivero, Lennie Bell, Rosa Gimeno and Mariano Matarranz represent an earlier period, followed by artists such as Din Matamoro, Salomé del Campo, Alejandro Gornemann and Paloma Peláez. Miguel Logroño, the exhibition's curator, goes to great lengths to ensure artists from all Spanish territories are represented, from Algeciras, where Evaristo Bellotti was born, to La Coruña, the birthplace of Gonzalo Sarasqueta.
The majority of artists have only recently begun to individually exhibit their work, although in the case of two it is a different story: Tom Carr and Perejaume, born in 1956 and 1957 respectively, have already extensively exhibited in Spain and abroad. Perejaume, for instance, is one of the artists to use sculptural video installation instead of the most common disciplines in the exhibition, sculpture and painting.
A total of 54 works - each artist displaying three pieces - portrays the repertoire of images, forms and procedures that shape current Spanish art, both as an individual territory and also in relation to international arts. This exhibition is testament to all of the above and reflects the commitment to emerging art in the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.
