Collection: Retrospect Galleries at the Semana Profesional del Arte, Oviedo 4-14 June

Retrospect Galleries are pleased to have been invited to participate in the inaugural edition of the Semana Profesional del Arte in Oviedo, Spain that takes place from the 4th to the 14th of June. This high profile initiative is organised by the Fundación Municipal de Cultura de Oviedo (Cultural Foundation of the City of Oviedo) featuring prominent national and international artists including Antonio Lopez the distinguished Spanish realist painter who will give a talk at the Oviedo Philharmonic. 

Retrospect Galleries will show a selection of new artworks by gallery artists Alberto Sánchez (Spain/Australia), Betsy Enzensberger (USA), Gabriel Moreno (Spain), Lantomo (Italy/Spain), Monica Fernandez (Mexico), and Stefan Yordanov (Bulgaria/Netherlands). The Retrospect showcase will be exhibited at the Fábrica de Armas de La Vega, a former weapons factory that will open the doors of four of its most important spaces for the Semana Profesional del Arte that has been produced by Marta Fermín local gallerist and president of the Association of Art Galleries of Oviedo.

About the Retrospect Galleries Showcase

Retrospect will present a new body of work by Mexican artist Monica Fernandez that she has called 'Manifiesto a la Reconstrucción'. This is a series she started in 2020 during (and in response to) the lockdown and that she describes as follows:

"The works I present here are part of "Manifiesto a la Reconstrucción" (Manifest for Reconstruction), a series that I began during the first lockdown when we were isolating at home as my husband and son had both tested positive for Covid-19. [It] is a very personal series where I pay tribute to the Japanese practice of Kintsugi that is based on repairing fractures in a way that makes the scars beautiful."

Large scale works by Gabriel Moreno will be on show including 'Candy Queen' and 'Hunter Queen' two new pieces that show Moreno's  characteristic style where the manifest eroticism is contained by a modesty and delicacy of temperament which infuses the technical and aesthetic elements of the multiple artistic mediums and tools he uses such as pencil, biro, ink, marker, water-colour and digital art. 

Barcelona-based Italian artist  Lantomo will exhibit several of her minimalist portraits of imaginary characters where traditional techniques and styles are enlivened with subtle details from contemporary pop culture. 

“The graphite portraits I create are almost realistic, suspended in a personal universe between realism and vision, but I'm not interested in virtuous details, I look for the representation of the emotions of my subjects. Drawing has always been present in my life, like a way of expressing myself. My portraits embody a feeling of isolation and introspection, involved in silence."

Alberto Sánchez will show recent creations that illustrate his unique practice which is, simultaneously, an inquiry into the nature and into the essence of how we perceive the world we live in. His aim is to challenge our perception in order to question our relationship with space and time. By using expressive colours and dynamic brush strokes he transforms the obvious and invites us into his parallel landscapes.

Sculpture is also represented in the Retrospect showcase by two of the gallery's most popular artists, California-based Betsy Enzensberger and Stefan Yordanov, an artist born in Bulgaria now based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Betsy Enzensberger's realistic, larger-than-life sculptures of dripping, frozen treats, popsicles and other sweet-toothed delights are made in resin, a material that is a source of constant fascination for the artist.

“Resin – I love it. It’s beautiful, sexy, mysterious. There’s just something about it I can’t resist. I dream about it. I want to touch it. I want to eat it."

Stefan Yordanov will show two of his large light-based sculptures where the physical remains of a being (its skeleton or skull) are transformed into a light-giving creature in order to investigate new possible forms of ‘life’.

“In my artistic work I am looking for TRANSFORMATION of life forms…creating hybrids which give a surprising view on our possible future. [...] The starting point of my works is a big collection of found natural remains: bones, animal skulls & nature materials…which I combine with sources of energy (light & electricity) in order to give them a new, imaginary ‘life’. Light itself appeals to me as a living material, existing in everyday life objects (bulbs, TV’s, smartphones, etc.), it is a form of energy that you can hold in your hands, a living form.”