Exhibitions
The vibrant universe and the limits of abstraction by Fiona Rae at Es Baluard
'Vista' at Es Baluard Museum: the first solo exhibition in Spain of one of the most original and influential voices in contemporary art.
Vista de Fiona Rae is the new temporary exhibition at Es Baluard Museu, which can be visited from January 30 to August 23. It is the first solo exhibition in Spain by the artist, born in Hong Kong and based in London, and a unique opportunity to discover one of the most outstanding figures in British contemporary art.
Considered a pioneer in modern abstraction, Fiona Rae combines influences from abstract expressionism, pop culture and contemporary iconography in her work, giving rise to vibrant and energetic compositions that explore visual language from an original and innovative perspective.
The exhibition, curated by Carolina Grau, presents a selection of works by the British artist in Espai C, created over the last three decades, some of which are part of such relevant collections as those of the Tate Museum or the "la Caixa" Foundation, along with a recent deposit at Es Baluard Museu by the Barrié Foundation.
Over the past thirty years, Rae has developed a distinctive pictorial language, full of restless energy, humor, and complexity, that questions and expands the conventions of modern painting. His large abstract canvases play with concepts such as legibility, the imaginary, and the figurative, through compositions that, while seemingly improvised, are precisely controlled and convey a sense of instability and a certain elegant disorder.
Rae's works are clearly inspired by contemporary experience and the evolution of art and culture, with influences ranging from Albrecht Dürer's engravings, Chinese calligraphy and abstract expressionism, to pop art, graphic design, fashion, comics and video games.
The artist works in series, which always start from an idea or a set of conceptual guidelines that the artist explores to generate works capable of responding to the cultural context that surrounds them, with a great emotional and intellectual charge. Each series can be a development of previous ideas or, on the contrary, a completely new proposal. In this exhibition at Es Baluard Museu you can see examples of several series, from the late 1990s to his most recent works.
Trained at Croydon College of Art and with a BA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College, Rae emerged as an international artist with her participation in the 1988 exhibition “Freeze”, organised by Damien Hirst, and was a finalist for the prestigious Turner Prize in 1991. Her career has earned her institutional recognition, being elected a Royal Academician of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, where she has also worked as a professor of painting. Rae is one of the most original and influential voices in contemporary art, demonstrating that painting can evolve without losing its emotional and conceptual strength.
