Alex Katz. Red Hat. Javier Lopez Gallery in Madrid.
Regarded as one of the precursors of Pop Art, the American artist Alex Katz (Brooklyn, 1927) opened last night, together with his wife Ada, the exhibition ‘Red Hat’ at the Javier López Gallery in Madrid.
A painter of series, drawn to fashion and the refined way of life, his work, difficult to classify, lies somewhere between Pop Art and the new American realism of the nineteen-seventies. ‘Red hat’ is the latest series of his highly sought-after portraits set against flat backgrounds, without perspective or depth. The leitmotif, this time, is a red hat, with the aim of «exploring the plastic possibilities of the figure in the foreground against a neutral background» and offering an unforgettable sensation of light and color.
This magnificent exhibition allows us to follow the different stages of the portrait’s making (from the sketch to the final result). Katz turns to cardboard and to the stenciling of sienna pigment over the perforated outlines, which entails an extraordinary formal refinement. These enormous drawings can be seen and enjoyed facing the portraits in the broad and luminous hall of this gallery.
In November 2010, Javier López opened a cutting-edge space in Madrid in order to move his gallery from the city center to a setting on the outskirts, where a unique dialogue between architecture and landscape takes place. The exhibitions are staged in an exceptional building by the architecture studio Vicens + Ramos, which these days enjoys the magical visit of some passing inhabitants: the fascinating gaze of women all crowned with a red hat…
ALEX KATZ: RED HAT
Madrid, from 23 April to 18 June 2014
Calle Guecho, 12 B 28023 – Madrid
Tel.: 91 593 21 84
Fax: 91 591 26 48 INFO@GALERIAJAVIERLOPEZ.COM
Opening hours:
Monday – Friday 10 am – 5 pm and by prior appointment
