Gering & López Gallery is pleased to present the first solo exhibition in the United States of Spanish artist, JOSÉ Mª YTURRALDE.
The exhibition is comprised of a selection of new paintings by Yturralde entitled Postludios, a series that completes a previous body of related work. Just as in Preludios and Interludios, there is a clear allusion to the organization and definition of time and space in music, referencing in particular Ludus Tonalis by Hindemith (1943) and Structures by Morton Feldman (1951).
In Postludios, the artist explores the limits of painting by using chromatic values as subtle light variables to act upon our emotions and mood. Throughout the three series, Yturralde plays with the importance of the defined line as a compositional element. The evolution is complete here as the defined line is virtually obliterated; instead we find a canvas of seamless gradations of rich color. The paintings are proposals; attempts to represent and materialize the infinite and sublime. They are horizons of possible voids, all unique but similar, as if dealing with celestial constellations and spatial shapes. These paintings exist in a new realm, one that is much more emotional and personal than in Yturralde's past series. This spirituality, nearly palpable in the work, refers us to a long list of painters, including Mark Rothko, Kasimir Malevich and Josef Albers, whose work has been able to mix the purity and minimalism of form with the emphatic expression of a personal mystique.
Born in 1942 in Cuenca, Spain, José Mª Yturralde currently lives and works in Valencia. Yturralde has been included in many important exhibitions around the world such as the Sao Paulo Biennial (1963) and the Venice Biennial (1978). Other recent exhibitions include a retrospective at IVAM of Valencia in 1999 and group exhibitions at the Museo Nacional Reina Sofía, Madrid; Museum of Modern Art, México; The Museum of Modern Art, Toyama, Japan; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Madrid, Spain; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina. His work is found in several important international collections including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; Hastings Foundation, New York; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Vitória, Brazil; National Museum in Wroclaw, Poland; The Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, Japan; and the State Museum of Novgorod, Russia. Other works from the recent Postludios series are concurrently on view at Galería Javier López in Madrid through January 31, 2007.
Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm. For further information please contact Lauren Cicione at 646.336.7183.
