‘What We All Have In Common’
a group show with
Maite y Manuel, Agustín Esteso, Luis Manuel Lambrechts,
Paul Loubet y Gema Quiles
16.03.23 - 08.04.23
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
The exhibition "What we all have in common '' brings together five artists who use figurative languages from an approach to painting, drawing and sculpture that draws on abstraction and the interpretation of form based on simple, naïf-inspired strokes. The title of the exhibition refers to a quote by the American poet, writer and farmer Wendell Berry that stipulates that "the Earth is what we all have in common". The group show connects the imaginary worlds but inspired by our convoluted reality of five artists of different nationalities. The subtle and poetic references to nature created by Gema Quiles, the animal and floral world portrayed by LM Lambretchs in his works, the allusions to complotism and terraplanist theories recreated by Paul Loubet, coherently join the walks and hikes made by the multiform and quirky inhabitants of Maite and Manuel's works or the more summary but very expressive characters of Agustín Esteso.
The landscapes, gardens and uninhabited still lifes of Gema Quiles, with her characteristic way of applying color, that consists on filling the surface of the painting with a brush used in the manner of a marker, act as a counterpoint to the pre and post-apocalyptic scenes of Paul Loubet, whose figures and elements are summarized in simple, abstract-like but perfectly identifiable and full of details strokes. The animals with bulging eyes and almost insolent gestures presented by LM Lambretchs could roam freely on any of these natural worlds. The faces and bodies depicted in Agustín Esteso's sculptures are surprising for their capacity to transmit very defined and representative expressions of the human essence and whose notches and gestures, once again, seem to be rediscovered in Maite and Manuel's paintings, full of compositions in horror vacui that bring together a good number of personages of varied chromatic ranges and countenances.
The ability of art to express complex ideas, illustrate moods and represent feelings, memories, fears and certainties, and in essence, to enable a space for reflection based on the world around us, emerges significantly in this group of artists with a complex and intelligent candidness whose humorous and childish attributes transform the exhibition into a democratizing, fun and stimulating experience on a visual and intellectual level.
MAITE Y MANUEL
Maite Garcia Argul (UY, 1996) and Manuel Puig (UY, 1991) are a duo of painters born in Uruguay currently living in Mallorca. Maite had graphic design studies and Manuel studied multimedia design, together they created Gabinete Exquisito in Barcelona in 2019, a design and illustration studio.
Their pictoric work oscillates between figuration and abstract expressionism and is defined by its authors as "an aggressive but innocent fight". Their previous experiences as cartoonists and mascot designers before devoting their time completely to painting is reflected in the imagery of their work, which is characterized by the appearance of creatures, characters, figures and imaginary friends that invade the austere spaces of their daily life such as tables, carts and messy rooms.
GEMA QUILES
Gema Quiles (ES, 1994), lives and works in Valencia. Graduated in Fine Arts from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, she is currently studying the Doctoral Program in Art, Production and Research after training at the Akademia Sztuk Pięknych in Wroclaw (Poland), and in Barcelona, as part of the Habitat Artístic scholarship.
Her work, focused on painting and sculpture, reflects on the reinterpretation of reality and the creation of new, intimate spaces of her own as a result of an escape from what the artist perceives as hostile scenarios. She uses resources inspired by nature and landscapes as a reference, creating a personal language through the use of repetition and synthesis.
AGUSTIN ESTESO
Agustín Esteso (Spain, 1984) lives and works in Valencia. Trained in graphic design and advertising creativity, the Valencian artist has worked for years in the fields of design and illustration, having developed in parallel his personal projects, always linked to the art world.
He is currently dedicated to artistic production on a full time basis. His work focuses on handmade sculpture based on the ancient technique of wrought iron. His works stand out for their formal simplicity, with a fun and intelligent figurative approach. Resoundingly contemporary, his sculptural figures have an aesthetic of their own that results from the knowledge acquired by the artist throughout his career in various fields such as design, illustration, ceramics, photography or mural painting.
LUIS-MANUEL LAMBRECHTS
Luis-Manuel Lambrechts (BE, 1992) is a Belgian based artist and illustrator. He studied illustration & comic design at LUCA school of arts in Brussels. After he finished his Master degree in 2016, he moved to Barcelona to become a freelance illustrator. Today he lives and works in Leuven, Belgium. Lambrechtsl is known for his narrative, figurative and colorful work.
His Peruvian roots, nature, personal experiences, cultures and religions all lead to handpainted drawings with hidden fragments of his own life, mixed with fictional landscapes. He expresses himself through dreamy, almost surreal landscapes and tends to create small worlds where he can see himself wander and travel. He describes his work as naive, colorful and happy but with a pinch of darkness.
PAUL LOUBET
Paul Loubet (FR, 1987) is a French artist born in 1987 in Béziers who lives and works between France and Spain. His work is strongly inspired by the aesthetics of primitive video games and popular culture in a more generic way.
Loubet deploys his works on all scales and volumes, developing work ranging from micro-painting and small sculpture to monumental mural painting and large public installations.
His compositions, at first glance abstract, are inspired by aerial views, cartographies or other diagrams that he uses as a structure to create dystopian and paranoid micro-worlds in which he inserts multiple winks, from popular culture to the most academic History of art.
