Pepe Cobo inaugurates the season of the Miguel Marcos gallery

From September 7, the Miguel Marcos gallery begins its 2023-2024 season with a new temporary exhibition dedicated to the renowned gallerist and artist Pepe Cobo and entitled Flores de Cantón y Lurigancho.

Pepe Cobo is an important gallerist, both in Seville and Madrid, with art galleries in both cities as well as in the cities of Lima and Peru. In this case, Cobo presents a unique project in Barcelona that constitutes a clear commitment to a conceptual discourse, through tradition.

The exhibited works are based on the drawings and embroidery of Manila shawls, from China. It must be said that in pre-Columbian cultures, these textile pieces were considered a sign of wealth and prestige. They had their symbolism and were used in a great diversity of contexts. From the elements already mentioned – Manila shawl – it is also necessary to add ceramic pieces, in order to give the exhibition a strong artistic discourse, claiming textile and ceramics as a major art.

It should be remembered that in 1565 the monarch Felipe II established a commercial route, called the Manila Route, which linked this city with Seville, passing through Acapulco and Veracruz. This happened three times a year, as long as the crossing lasted. Inside the ships were transported objects that were considered exotic, spices, furniture, fabrics, etc., all of great value and which passed into the hands of people with high purchasing power, wherever the goods arrived. One of the unloading ports was Acapulco, paying for these treasures with money from the Viceroyalties of Peru and Mexico, thus encouraging the emergence of local merchants who trafficked in these materials.

"Flores de Cantón, XIII", 2020. Ceràmica manual

The Mantón de Manila, an important object

The Mantón de Manila was one of those objects that achieved relevance and influence due to its slenderness, delicacy, finesse and aristocracy, a beauty that gradually spread to popular culture, translating into various elements such as fabrics , cushions, skirts, dresses made with modest materials... Its validity today is very remarkable, as are the repercussions in other periods such as the dress and the popular piece, verbiage in Las Tapades in Peru during the 18th centuries and XIX This exhibition is the result of the discovery of a set of iconographic elements represented in clothing, objects, paintings of various uses with which Pepe Cobo wants to express a new approach to the intersections of the intermingling of cultures, in addition to facilitating the objects themselves have a life of their own. Fragments of original Manila Shawls, selectively manipulated, are given to the inmates of the Lurigancho Prison in Lima, who work, thread by thread, and day by day, finishing these tapestries. In this way, art becomes a liberating element to the extent that prisoners redeem part of the sentence for the days worked. However, and given the therapeutic and uplifting value of the work done, those who do not have freedom somehow manage to see the light through a creative activity. The exhibition can be visited until October 20 this year from Monday to Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the evening.