Antoni Tàpies (1923-2012) painted and drew infinite crosses, which did not have the Christian symbology that is usually associated in the West, but rather represented vital crossroads, paths, or literally the letter T of the initial of the name of Teresa Barba, his “great love”, his traveling companion throughout his life. Fernando Castro Flores recalled this this Thursday at the presentation of the exhibition Tàpies. Last decade (2002-2012), which exhibits up to five never-before-exhibited works among the 22 that make up the selection, all of them from the collection of the Catalan creator’s family, with the exception of an immense canvas, property of the center.
In many of them those T’s or crosses that already motivated the title of the exhibition at the Fundació Tàpies in 2018 appear again, T for Teresa. Until the end of his life, the creator did not stop combining some of his constants with new ideas that he captured on the enormous canvases of this creator who is difficult to classify.
It was not informalist, it was not abstract, it was not minimalist, it was not conceptual, it was not realistic, it was not poorbut it was everything at the same time. If he had to choose a definition, Castro Flores leans towards the one given by the painter Antonio López: “His work is reality.” For Tàpies, the reference artist was the poet San Juan de la Cruz and his path of absolute dispossession that he shares with Zen philosophy, according to the response he gave to the philosopher José Luis Aranguren on a visit to El Escorial, in the company of the poet José Ángel Valente and the sculptor Eduardo Chillida, as recalled by the curator of the exhibition that can be seen until August 30.
The exhibition tour reveals how the ideas and forms that gave rise to his unique and recognized artistic personality continued to be present in the work carried out in the last years of his life, in which the painter did not limit himself to making a synthesis of his work but “took risks” and created “quite radical and hard” works. This is what both Toni Tàpies, son of the creator, and Castro Flores have stated.
“My father’s concerns were very universal topics, such as peace in the world, democracy, the dramas of war, hunger, and all of that, unfortunately, are radically topical topics.” “It raises questions almost of a philosophical nature about existence, about the subject, about the object, about life, about information, about the catastrophic and tragic nature of our existence,” said the curator, but hope is also seen in his works, in which “oriental meditation” and “the search for a void that generates some plenitude” can be seen.
The five unpublished works are exhibited in a room completely painted black with dim lighting with the aim of creating a space for reflection and helping the viewer to concentrate on the works, not be distracted and be able to calmly see everything that these works contain. Open the exhibition the work a = a, measuring 2.32 by 4 meters and belonging to the Bancaja Foundation, which is accompanied by other large pieces in which different symbols such as crosses, parts of the human body and various objects are mixed, such as brooms, doors or windows out of joint, crumpled newspapers, brushes, paint buckets and jackets.