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| JOSÉ
GARCÍA Y MÁS |
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Vita |
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José
García y Más was born in 1945 to Catalan-Andalusian parents in Santa Cruz de la Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain. When he was 18 years old, he boarded a Norwegian petroleum tanker, which took him around the African continent. He attended art school, the Escuela de Bellas Artes, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. In 1970 he left Spain, which
was still under the unpopular Franco regime, for the young German democracy and eventually moved to Berlin, where he took a degree in engineering. Since 1980, he has pursued an independent career as an artist, studying at various times in Sweden, England, Italy, and Spain. He and his wife now live and work on the island of Usedom in the Baltic Sea.
Although global policy plays a very important part in his world view,
García y Más is not a political painter in any narrow sense.
His pictures deal with contemporary issues, often in a satirical mode,
and need to be ‘read’ with insight. His painting “The
Lion Tamers” (1985) – a striking example of his political
expression - now hangs in the permanent exhibition “A Walk Through
Two Thousand Years of German History”
in the Deutsches Historisches
Museum (German Historical Museum)
in Berlin.
His figurative, strongly linear compositions have their roots in Pittura
Metafisica and Surrealism, thus forging a link with Giorgio de Chirico
and René Magritte. Yet, the focus of his critical-realistic artwork
is rather more on the problematic social and political issues of the day;
the point
is made by means of alienation, irony and wit, often in a macabre and
even sardonic manner. From his earthy, powerful yet cool ‘valeurs’
and his detailed compositions abounding in figures, García y Más
turns in
his oil paintings to an increasingly intense and radiant use
of colour with
a poster-like intensity. This determines the scenario of
his canvases,
which is now restricted to a few essential figures.
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Public
collections: |
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DIN
Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V.
(German Institute for Standardization), Berlin |
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Deutsches
Historisches Museum
(German Historical Museum), Berlin |
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Museum
of the MacLaurin Trust, Rozelle/Ayr (Scotland) |
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Haus
der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
(House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany), Bonn |
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Town
Hall of Wolgast |
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Cooper Hall, Selwood Manor, Frome/Somerset (England) |
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Exhibitions: |
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Berlin,
Copenhagen (Denmark), Graz (Austria), Anklam, Greifswald and Rostock, Munich,
Rozelle/Ayr (Scotland), Schwerin, Island of Usedom (Baltic Sea). |
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Exhibition
catalogues: |
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Moderne
spanische Malerei -
Gemälde und Zeichnungen von José García y Más.
Ausstellung im Ibero-Amerikanischen Institut Preußischer Kulturbesitz
Berlin, April/Mai 1985. 16 S., 11 Abb. |
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Gedanken
zu Europa / Reflexión sobre Europa
Ölbilder - Pinturas (1981-1989). Ausstellung im Spanischen Kulturinstitut
München, Juni/Juli 1990. 36 S., 30 Abb.
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Ausstellung
in der Ladengalerie Berlin Mai/Juni 1993. 40 S., 42 Abb. |
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Homage
to the Little Mermaid
Ausstellung in der Galleri DEC, Hørsholm (Dänemark),
Juni/Juli 1994. 16 S., 12 Abb.
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Ausstellung
in der Ladengalerie Berlin Juli/August 1995.24 S., 26 Abb. |
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Ausstellung
in der Ladengalerie Berlin März 1997.
24 S., 26 Abb. |
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Ausstellung
in der Galerie Rutzmoser München
April-Juni 2000. 32 S., 30 Abb. |
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"Denk'
ich an Europa..."
Atelier Seebad Bansin (Ostseeinsel Usedom) 2004. 32 S., 30 Abb. |
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"Die
Büchse der Pandora"
Ausstellung in der Holländer-Windmühle Benz (Ostseeinsel Usedom),
Mai-August 2005. 24 S., 22 Abb. |
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Ausstellung
in der Kunsthalle Anklam
(Grafik & Design-Schule), März/April 2006. 28 S., 26 Abb. |
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