GUILLERMO PEÑALVER

Catalogue of the XVII Edition of the program Conexiones, organized by Museo ABC and Fundación Banco Santander, whose objective is to support the artistic production of Spanish authors linked to the practice of Contemporary Drawing. Autorretrato en interior [Indoor self-portrait] is the title of the project by Guillermo Peñalver (Tarragona, 1982).

As a starting point, Peñalver has selected from the Colección Banco Santander an oil on canvas by Julio Le Parc entitled Modulación nº 66, 1976, whose movement and bichromy inspire Peñalver in several of his works. On the other hand, he has chosen from the Colección ABC three illustrations that connect with his personality: Ángel Díaz Huertas, El niño y el escaparate [The child and the showcase], 1924; Antonio Barbero, El hombre mañoso, [The handyman], 1932 and Emilio Ferrer, Brígida y su boda [Brígida and his wedding], 1929.

The exhibition catalogue immerses us in the world in which the artist lives and works. Peñalver, through collage and drawing, creates images of his most reserved physical spaces (his “house-study” where he is depicted in the shower or working).

In the essay El interior de un retrato, the curator Óscar Alonso Molina delves into the production and artistic career of Guillermo Peñalver. The book also includes pictures of the artist’s works: the large cutouts that he has produced for this exhibition (result of two years of work) and details of them where the reader can appreciate the numerous papers and cardboards used. The ability of the artist to make the most of its textures, transparencies, brightnesses, thicknesses or contrasts is remarkable. The artist performs a difficult exercise where the white colour on the white paper is the subtle main resource, barely visible, but on which the reader’s gaze will discover a wonderful amount of nuances.