"Carlos Franco. Work on paper" at the Miguel Marcos Gallery

The Miguel Marcos Gallery opens on October 18 at 7 p.m. the Carlos Franco exhibition. Work on paper that can be visited until the month of December. The drawing appears as a research space where internal time is perceived, and as an instant embodiment of ideas, feelings, obsessions and some - many - irreverent fantasies. It is suitable material to delve into the complex mechanisms of the creation of Carlos Franco, who works with the idea of a sketch as his final work.

The Harenes and Comidas series are based on the presence of classical mythology and Spanish surrealism, guidelines coming from his Mediterranean culture, manifested through his personal iconography, the result of which is a particularly unique style. In the Harenes - in the words of the artist himself - "a place is created, as a pictorial genre, where the intimacy of the female prisoners and the atmosphere of friendship between them that is presented, contrasts with the situation of domination." We cannot ignore the pictorial tradition, represented by Ingres and also addressed by Picasso in Suite 156 or by Cézanne in his famous painting Les grands banyistes. R

except for Comidas , nothing seems platonic in the banquets drawn by Carlos Franco. Beyond the clouds and diamond sparkles, pure pleasure is represented, the need for pure concentration. They recall in some way the luxury of the meals in Paolo Veronese's Wedding at Cana and the pleasure of Manet's simple picnics. The series of drawings in ink Agujeros Negros mark the transition from the soft oriental brush to the blunt tip of brushes that are often used. The reference for these pieces is the oriental design, with its immediacy, directness, understood as the movement that breathes.

The last series is Diario de la escondida lucha de una pierna against the golden staphylococcus . Paraphrasing Aristotle "Equally in suffering and tears, there is also a certain pleasure, since the pain is in the lack and the pleasure in the memory". Carlos Franco recreates his accident from an underlying perspective as the root of what is visible. Color allows both the artist and the viewer to escape from the present. Medical technology, with its devices and medicines, serves as a restless inspiration for a striking drawing that explodes with color. According to Carlos Franco "The experience of a long medical treatment can configure for the patient, a version of reality that allows them to transcend it."