The Andalucian Centre of Contemporary Art in Seville is showing Cercanías by conceptual artist Rogelio López Cuenca, until the 15th of May, as part of the La Constitución Política del Presente cycle. The interesting new show is centred around Andalucia, addressing the urban and political changes suffered by the cities as a result of migration.

Cercanías is a critical metaphor on the violence and dominance exercised by Western cultures. In just a word, it sums up the reactions and reflections of its meanings, since Cuenca doesn’t just refer to the geographic proximity with the Arab-Muslim culture, but the inherited cultural history, where the barbarians were the Europeans, who left their aesthetic, linguistic, architectural and urban mark on what is today Andalucia.

Rogelio López Cuenca was born in Nerja, Malaga in 1959. He graduated in Philosophy, and during the 1980s, assisted in workshops at the Madrid Círculo de Bellas Artes cementing his involvement in the art world. His political stance marks his artistic works, which started out as performance in public spaces, and led to the video Poesie pur le Poivre in 1986. He became interested in Russian constructivism and Cubo-futurism, as part of the group Agustín Parejo School. Cuenca ended up turning his attention to the idea of art as a space for linguistic debate, and the subversion of the dominant iconography of publicity and the media, following the interesting theories of artists Barbara Kruger and Matt Mullican.

Cuenca’s approach to art is clearly expressed in his continual reference to the work of the artist and his role in society: “Art can no longer consist in the representation of exterior or interior, psychological landscapes, because its space is the discussion about the significance of what it is we share and the languages we speak.” Any copied visual image then, however beautiful it is, is not art, but just technique – art can only be found in that which connects us to the rest of society.

In this interesting theoretical debate, Cuenca develops his play on words and icons, where the conceptual is complemented by images taken from magazines, newspapers, publicity, maps.

The piece Corpus is particularly provocative. Constructed of three images reflecting death and violence, Cuenca prints the mythical face of Che Guevara dead onto an anonymous body. The work invites us to think about the fragmentation of discourse due to a discordant memory, as well as injustice and life.

For more information http://www.caac.es/programa/roglop11/frame.htm

Nancy Guzman

If you are in Andalucia, don’t miss this exhibition. And now that spring is here, don’t miss out on a chance to explore this beautiful city when you rent an Seville accommodation

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Translated by: Poppy
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