Bangkok--Apr 26--Gallery 55
Albert Gonzalo was born in Tarragona (Catalonia, Spain), the ancient Iberian city known by the name of “Cael?polis” inhabited by Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans which conformed the city’s history and architecture. As a child he became interested in ancient history as he played among the archaeological ruins of Tarragona. Keen to discover unknown worlds, he was unable to resist exploring the realm of painting, which was not altogether new to him as his father was also a painter.
In 1969 he moved to Barcelona where he still lives and paints today, to enrol in Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona. Four years later he completed his BA and the year after he held his first solo show in Barcelona.
The titles given to the canvases and works on wood exhibited in Gallery 55 in Bangkok point towards the iconographic and symbolical references present in Albert Gonzalo’s work. The personal vision of the artist has been conformed by an assimilation of the various artistic trends that make up the history of oriental civilizations and religions. Persian architecture where domes capture the Tibetan turquoises, Mogul palaces of India and ancient Persia where rooftops, pavilions and chambers are confused among the immensity of the night and the brilliance of the stars, the layouts of mythical gardens where immortal colours such as jade and cinnabar, announce the presence of the divine, and celestial disorders, be they from comets or monsoons that remain sublime over the symbolical architectural structures that the artist fixes on the canvas. These pictorial visions may be discerned from titles that announce and guide the viewer as one contemplates the art pieces: “Mansion of the yellow tear, a tree of paradise and the giant ruby”, “Trees of red lacquer in the palace garden”, “Oriental treaty of colours”, “Pagoda of cinnabar of the empress”, “Fortress on Rejalgar stone”, “Palace of orange flowers on alabaster”, “Jaipur at evening”.
The relevance of Albert Gonzalo’s painting in the Spanish and International avant-garde panorama is evident by the number of his works present in important private and public collections in Spain, Europe and in other parts of the world.
In 1979, at the age of 25, Albert Gonzalo became Professor of Painting in the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Barcelona. However it was when Albert Gonzalo presented a doctoral thesis on the subject of his own body of work titled “Iconography and process in my pictorial work” and was awarded with the “Extraordinary Doctorate Prize” and obtaining a unanimous Cum Laude recognition, that he became Doctor and Head Professor of Painting at the Fine Arts Faculty.
It is important to underline the research and scientific investigation carried out by Doctor Albert Gonzalo towards the comparative aspects of Occidental and Oriental Art. Mention should be made of the importance of his work as investigator of the various artistic disciplines developed in the Orient, as well as Oriental religious art:
Islam, Buddhism, Zen, Taoism, Sintoism, Hinduism and Tantricism among others.
In addition to the research and investigation carried out at the University, studying the aesthetics and symbolism of the art of the Middle East and Far East, along with the history of human thought and artistic creation, other influences in Albert Gonzalo’s work have been conferred by the journeys of the artist to deepen the comparative knowledge of Occidental Art versus ancient civilizations, primitive arts and oriental cultures. These travels have been conceived and planned as a prolongation of bibliographical research.
These field studies have been carried out to research the artists’ own iconography and symbolism as a base for the development of his own artistic language.
The sketched studies, (travel notes, drawings, water colours and photographs) are the base and/or confirmations of posterior pictorial results. Based on this way of working, Albert Gonzalo has visited the Middle East (Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Jerusalem), Africa (Morocco, Tunisia, Algiers, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Kenya), and the Far East (Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Nepal, China and Uzbekistan).
“Treaty of the journey of immortal colours, in my feeble memories”
A solo exhibition, by
Prof. Doctor ALBERT GONZALO (b. Spain, 1954)
16th June — 10th July, 2005
Gallery 55 Bangkok
2nd Floor, CRC Tower, All Seasons Place, 87 Wireless Road, Bangkok 10330
Tel: 02-6853877
Business Hours:
Daily, 11:00 — 19:00
Click for photo release at www.thaipr.net End.