Carmen Laffón. Salt

Dates: September 18, 2020 - February 28, 2021
Curator: Juan Antonio Álvarez Reyes, Javier Hontoria
Co-produce: Patio Herreriano
Coordinator: Alberto Figueroa
Space: East Cloister 2

Co-organized and produced with the Museo Patio Herreriano in Valladolid, the exhibition Salt presents 37 recent large-format works by artist Carmen Laffón (Seville,1934). Active since the mid-20th century and now considered one of Spain's most important painters, Laffón once again offers proof of her keen interest in observing the locus, an exercise where the artist's narrative determination is not devoid of intense emotion.

The works assembled in this exhibition reveal an equally attentive vision of the Bonanza salt marshes -hence the title- in the town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Cádiz. The mouth of the River Guadalquivir between the provinces of Cádiz and Huelva, withthe Doñana nature reserve as theme and privileged witness of the pictorial act, is the place where this Sevillian artist has developed her freest, most effortless painting. It also happens to be her most ambitious, as the canvases she presents here are unusually large. The paintings in concentrated shades of grey and others in glowing blues denote an interest in serial production and are products of her long, patient scrutiny of the salt marshes. This setting is probably not the most common motif in the tradition of landscape painting, but that is precisely what makes Laffón a modern painter; moreover, these recent paintings delve into the geographical singularity of a land shaped by centuries of historical vicissitudes that have determined the physical, economic and social reality of the area.

The show also features a significant group of recently created bas-reliefs on the same theme that again bespeak a fascination with the horizon line, inseparable from the contemplative experience of a lifetime. They are accompanied by a brand-new series of large drawings that elaborate on this motif which Laffón made during the recent nationwide lockdown, when she continued to work.

 

 

ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION

[Leaflet]

[Press Dossier (In Spanish)]

[High Resolution Images]