Portraits of emblematic artists such as Picasso, Warhol or Bowie join anonymous faces in Carles Graell’s new exhibition, Humanity. Mrs Toolip Gallery is in charge of exhibiting the collection for the first time, after Graell decided to show it publicly to the world, now that he has left the world of advertising behind, having time to devote to the art of portraits.Humanity.
For this new adventure in art, his friend and colleague, Lluis Bassat, follows in his footsteps, recognising the talent he has always transmitted. On a personal level, Carles Graell has been drawing for close friends all his life, and he just had to show it to the world. And as he told us portraits have been my hobby all my life, and retirement has helped him to open up publicly. Through the works in the Humanitycollection, visitors can discover portraits of icons of the 20th centurywho revolutionised art. .
From left to right: The portraits of Warhol and David Bowie, each conveying different impressions. Mistrust, madness or surprise through their facial expressions. We find both amusing and terrifying portraits, such as the one of Clint Eastwood, portrayed with a dark gaze.
Within music, painting or cinema, changing the rules to see the world through different eyes. But, not everything revolves around them, as unknown facesalso reside in the room. During the opening of the exhibition, Graell stated:.
There are anonymous people who may be nobody, but they have a lot of expressive power. I have to be seduced by the face to be able to paint their portrait.
Presented as expressionist realism in digital mixed media, through the faces, art lovers will be able to grasp what essenceof each of them, Graell, has wanted to convey. The artist has acknowledged that he has put aside the fact that they are artists and has reinforced something as human as character or personalitythrough the faces of the people. In the same way, unfamiliar faces convey the same feelings.
In the same way, the unknown portraits arouse thoughts about what the slanted eyes or the lips convey. Because in the end, the face is the reflection of the soul.
Lluis Bassat is in charge of curating the exhibitionafter years of friendship. Meeting in a graphic design studio, Bassat offered him the opportunity to join the Bassat Ogilvy Group, creating highly relevant campaigns in the 1990s, when the Olympic Gamescame to Barcelona.
But he is not only a great designer and an extraordinary advertising art director, he is a complete artist. He sees art as something natural, something that comes from within him. He has always painted and drawn, without exhibiting his work, which has been only for himself and for some friends whom he has portrayed prodigiously, thanks to his ability to capture the interior of the characters. Now, at last, he has decided to show his current work, focused, in this case, exclusively on portraiture. Lluís Bassat says
Carles Graell with Carles Sans (left) and Joan Gràcia (right), from the group El Tricicle. Joan Gràcia admitted that he prefers not to see himself in photos, but the unreal realism that Graell uses in his portraits makes him fall in love with them.
Over the years, he has discovered ways and techniques when creating and the digital portraitsof British artist David Hockneywhichwere decisive in following his path. Recognising that, hehas to seduce the face of the person and I make my own representation, for him, the most difficult thing is to portray beautiful children and women.
To inauguratethe exhibition, dozens of personalities wanted to be with Carles Graell admiring the collection. Among them were Artur Mas and the Catalan group El Tricicle. The latter being part of one of the portraits he created in 2009, along with others such as Serrat, Toni Miró or Mariscal.
When? From 12 December to 23 December 2022
Where? Carrer Ausiàs March, 14, Barcelona
Orning hours: Monday to Sunday from 10.00h to 20.00h
Images provided by the brand mentioned
