Output details

A Sánchez Cotán. Solo Exhibition held 19 August to 15 September 2009.

This was a solo exhibition held at the Galleri Plus Minus, Trondheim, Norway which showcased contemporary international artists. Granell exhibited 8 paintings.

Research Imperatives

To explore the parallels between the paintings of Granell and the Baroque Spanish painter Sánchez Cotán (1560 – 1627).

Although Cotán is one of the most influential painters of his time, there has only been one monograph devoted to his works in Spanish (out of print) and none produced in any other language. Granell’s interest in the research arose in part from this absence of material.

Much has been made of the mathematical, religious and symbolic use of food and architecture in Cotán’s works, but there is very little mention of the contextualization of these elements, namely the backdrop or ‘void’ they inhabit. The primary concern was to draw parallels between the role of this backdrop and its equivalence in other works of that period and their resonance with aspects of Granell’s own processes and methodologies. Much abstract painting in England over the past twenty years has ignored the visceral and more emotive aspects of work in favour of a more self-referential investigation into the mechanical elements of its construction. This is exemplified in the work of contemporary British artists: Ian Davenport, Zebedee Jones, Callum Innes and Jason Martin.

The decision to show the work at Galleri Pluss Minus enabled the work to question where and how artists locate themselves culturally and philosophically, the intention being to put aside the idea of national or regional representation and instead focus on what artists have in common on an artistic level. Issues of national or regional uniqueness can result in the separation rather than integration of one national with another, leading to cultural stereotyping when juxtaposed with cultural stereotypes about another. This is of particular interest given Granell’s dual Spanish/British nationality .

Portfolio

CD:

(i) Images of the exhibition

Paper:

(i) Exhibition catalogue (date of dissemination)