The Museu de l’Hospitalet de Llobregat hosts until June 14 the exhibition Ininterrompudament, a retrospective dedicated to the artist Javier Puértolas.
With this forceful title, the artist wants to synthesize their long career and the perseverance that has characterized their work throughout the years. The exhibition offers a journey through the last twenty-five years of artistic production, in which the constants that have defined their practice can be identified.
From Aragon to the Barcelonian Eixample
Born in Binéfar (Huesca) in 1947, Puértolas studied Painting and Mural Procedures at the Escola Massana in Barcelona between 1971 and 1976. Since then, he lives and works in the Catalan capital, specifically in the neighborhood of Esquerra de l'Eixample. Between 1980 and 2012 he worked as a professor in the Department of Painting and Mural Procedures at the same school, a period that he himself considers fundamental to understanding his artistic career.
Throughout his/her career, he/she has exhibited in emblematic spaces such as the Montserrat Museum or the Binéfar House of Culture, among many others. Now he/she presents one of his/her most ambitious exhibitions, with almost a hundred works created in the last twenty-five years, including large-format pieces and a series of drawings with Japanese ink made during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Art abstract, but not only abstract
Puértolas defines his work, in statements to AMIC Cultura, as abstract, although with nuances: “My obsession is to attend to the micro and the macro, to paint what is not seen, its structures. My painting is nothing concrete, it is the structure of invisible things”.
This artistic language, which some experts consider “unique in Catalonia”, is consolidated from the year 2002, when the artist structures the concept of Ininterrompudamen, which now gives name to the exhibition. His creative process says it is intuitive and open: he does not start from previous sketches, but rather builds the work as he paints. Each large-format piece can require between two and three months of work, with a mainly acrylic technique and a high level of detail.
In addition to painting on canvas, Puértolas also works with digital art: “I work with Photoshop, but I always return to the canvas. I go from canvas to computer and from computer to canvas; it's just a starting point”.
L’Hospitalet, starting point
The artist's relationship with L'Hospitalet is special, as he held his first individual exhibition there at the Agrupació d'Amics de la Música. In addition, one of his works, acquired by a local collector and subsequently donated to the city's museum, has been one of the starting points for this exhibition. An exhibition that has been curated by Jesús Martínez-Clarà, with whom Puértolas has worked on the selection of the works.
In parallel, complementary activities have been programmed to foster public participation, such as a round table on May 7th with the authors of the texts of the exhibition catalog.
A job without rest
Puértolas, who states having “worked non-stop” and assures that he will continue painting as long as he can, and his health allows it, also reflects on his life trajectory: “I have been a fortunate man. Teaching has given me economic stability and has allowed me to explore art with freedom. I could not teach just anything; I always had to offer something special”. Finally, the artist from Binéfar invites everyone to visit the exhibition, beyond the specialized public: “I think that painting is the art of looking. One should not ask what it is, but simply look and enjoy what is being seen”.
