José Gonzalez Espaliú: Difference between revisions
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| name = Pepe Espaliú |
| name = Pepe Espaliú |
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| birth_name = José Gonzalez Espaliú |
| birth_name = José Gonzalez Espaliú |
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| birth_date = {{ |
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1955|10|26|mf=y}} |
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| birth_place = Córdoba, Spain |
| birth_place = Córdoba, Spain |
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| death_date = {{ |
| death_date = {{death date and age|1993|11|2|1955|10|26|mf=y}} |
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| death_place = Córdoba, Spain |
| death_place = Córdoba, Spain |
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| death_cause = Complications from AIDS |
| death_cause = Complications from AIDS |
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Revision as of 00:47, 6 December 2023
Pepe Espaliú | |
|---|---|
| Born | José Gonzalez Espaliú October 26, 1955 Córdoba, Spain |
| Died | November 2, 1993 (aged 38) Córdoba, Spain |
| Cause of death | Complications from AIDS |
| Notable work | “Carrying,” “The Nest” |
_-_Pepe_Espali%C3%BA_(1955_-_1993).jpg)
José Gonzalez Espaliú (Pepe Espaliú) (October 26, 1955 - November 2, 1993) was a Spanish artist and activist, best known for his performative and conceptual pieces. [2][3]
Biography
Early Life and Education
Common Artistic Themes
Notable Works
"Carrying"
"The Nest"
El Nido/The Nest (1993) was Pepe Espaliú’s final and “most personal” performance piece.[4] The performance took place over the course of eight days on the grounds of the Museum Arnhem in the town of Arnhem, Netherlands.[1][4] Each day, Espaliú, dressed in mens' formalwear, climbed a ladder to an octagonal wooden platform elevated in a tree and walked in circles, methodically removing more and more clothing as he walked.[5] On the final day of the performance, Espaliú undressed to complete nudity.[4] The artist compared the emotional and spiritual elements of his physical performance to those of Sufi whirling: continuous circular motion with the aim to become “purer and emptier” [5] and “closer to God” with each rotation.[4] Publicly, El Nido was received as “a revelatory piece, simultaneously direct, sad, final, hopeful, witty and serious." [4] On a metaphorical level, the piece was interpreted as an attempt by the artist to “[construct] a symbolic shelter” and enact the connections between “the carnal and the psychic, the interior and exterior." [1] Much like in Carrying (see above), the performance El Nido shares its name with an Espaliú sculpture. The latter is composed of eight crutches—an object that was a motif in Espaliú's final works[1]—of different colors, all leaning on one another in order to remain standing.[5]
"Untitled (Three Cages)"
Sin Título (Tres jaulas)/Untitled (Three Cages) (1992) is one of Espaliú’s most renowned sculptures.[2] Formerly displayed in (confirm location), Untitled consists of a row three cages hanging which, in lieu of solid bottoms, have wires extending in all directions.[5] Aligned with the materials (cages, crutches) and themes of illness and friendship in Espaliú’s later works, Untitled exemplifies how Espaliú, in the final years of his life, “[referred] to his condition and [extrapolated] it into a shared universal order." [1]
Other Thematically Significant Works
Espaliú’s approach to expressing the experience of a body with AIDS has been described as “direct and cathartic” while still “opting for the universal." [4] Curators of his work have noted that, much aligned with the discourse feminist movement that began a few decades earlier, Espaliú’s art seeks to ‘make the personal political.’[6]
- Para asesinar una risa (1986) and La lealtad del verdugo (1986) are two examples of paintings that feature the face and examine its role as “an expression of identity,” a theme which, in addition to tortured identity and masking, Espaliú was known to explore.[1][6]
- Sin Título/Untitled (1992) is a photograph of a public urinal building in Paris, around which his homosexual friends had gathered at his invitation. Below the photo is text in circular form that repeats “con o sin ti” (“with or without you”).[5]
- In Espaliú’s final written piece, “Retrato del artista desahuciado” (“Portrait of a hopeless artist”) [1], he discusses the discrimination faced by the gay community and those living with AIDS in Spain at the time of publication in 1992.[7]
Reception
Exhibitions
During Espaliú’s lifetime, his work was exhibited throughout Spain, as well as in Paris, New York, and Amsterdam.[8] In 1994, one year following Espaliú’s death, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía held a retrospective homage exhibition featuring over 100 of his works produced from 1986 to 1993. [1][8] Additionally during this year, the Mudéjar Pavilion in Sevilla held the first memorial exhibition for Espaliú. [8]
In October 2010, El Centro de Arte Pepe Espaliú opened in Cordoba in honor of its namesake. (El Pais Art Center)[9] The refurbished house contains 32 pieces and 11 notebooks, many of which were sold to the museum by Espaliú’s family at a low price in a collaborative effort to carry on his legacy.[9]
In 2016, the Institut Valencià d'Art Modern (IVAM) opened an exhibit dedicated to the work of Espaliú[6], and in 2018, Garcia Galeria held an exhibition honoring the 25th anniversary of Espaliú’s death, with the aim of “[introducing] his work to a new public.”[8] In the summer of 2023, the Cervantes Institute in Palermo held an exhibition of Espaliú’s work.[10]
Legacy of Activism
Espaliú is known for openly speaking about his struggle with AIDS, and for “openly incorporating gay culture from the clandestine,”[4] choices that separated him from other artists of his time.[7] During an era when shame and secrecy still surrounded AIDS in Spain, Espaliú brought humanity and visibility to the lived experience of the syndrome, [7] and his body of work is regarded as “one of the most profound conceptualisations of living with AIDS.” [1] Even decades after his death, gallery curators that work with Espaliú’s art still speak to his ability to express parts of the human experience that may typically go unseen.[8]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Visual AIDS | Pepe Espaliú". Visual AIDS. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
- ^ a b Conejero, Alberto (January 8, 2020). "Pepe Espaliú, el cielo perseguido". El Mundo. p. 13. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Montes, Javier (February 4, 2022). "Pepe Espaliú inédito: de icono en tiempos del sida a creador universal". Retrieved November 13, 2023.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c d e f g Grant, Simon (April 1, 1994). "Reviews - Pepe Espaliú". Art Monthly (175): 22 – via ProQuest.
- ^ a b c d e Morgan, Stuart; Morris, Frances; Bałka, Mirosław; Beuys, Joseph; Bourgeois, Louise; Tate Gallery, eds. (1995). Rites of passage: art for the end of the century ; [Miroslaw Balka, Joseph Beuys, Louise Bourgeois ... ; exhibition at the Tate Gallery 15 June - 3 September 1995]. London: Tate Gallery Publ. ISBN 978-1-85437-156-0.
- ^ a b c Bono, Ferran (December 1, 2016). "Pepe Espaliú, el artista que rompió el tabú del sida en España". El País. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c "AIDS". Actipedia. 2019-07-10. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
- ^ a b c d e ""Pepe Espaliú. In These Twenty-Five Years"". García Galería. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
- ^ a b Albert, Manuel J. (November 2, 2010). "Pepe Espaliú vuelve a casa". El País. p. 8. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "El Instituto Cervantes de Palermo homenajea a Pepe Espaliú 30 años después de su muerte". Infobae. May 23, 2023.