Born in Murcia in 1937, Isidoro Valcárcel Medina moved to Madrid in 1956, where he briefly pursued studies in Architecture and Fine Arts before dropping out. After some initial experiments in informalist abstraction, he turned towards strict formal abstraction, which subsequently drew him closer to trends in constructivist and concrete art. On Medina’s first solo exhibition in Madrid (1962), Ángel Crespo wrote, “There exists in this painting, as in all things drawn to the cold and consuming flame of metaphysics, something very much comparable to suicide.” Throughout the 1960s, his art developed towards a reduction of formal elements, approaching post-painterly and minimalist abstraction. The narrative and processual nature of his work during these years is evident in exhibitions such as “Pinturas Secuenciales” (Sequential Paintings, 1962); “Secuencias” (Sequences, 1968); “A continuación: un relato en doce jornadas: lugares, sonidos, palabras” (And then: a tale in 12 days: places, sounds, words, 1970); and “Algunas maneras de hacer esto” (Some ways to do this, 1969), along with a book of the same title. From 1968, following the Armarios series (works involving the framing of the picture), he began constructing his Lugares (visual environments comprising geometric structures) where he sought to create an art “to be lived,” a “habitable art.”
His involvement in the Encuentros de Pamplona festival in 1972 marks the second major period of his career. The installation of Estructuras Tubulares in the middle of the street lead to his understanding the significance of public art: “I presented a work that could be called ‘visual,’ and realized that it was one that was exclusively social.” From then on, his work no longer aimed to result in a visual object but rather to highlight, through ephemeral and particular interventions, the social meanings of our public spaces and urban life. During this period, he was drawn towards conceptual innovations, and the appearance and format of his works became highly varied: actionperformance art, reports, measurements, walks, archives, dictionaries, sound recordings, surveys, correspondence, law, lectures, architecture, photography, film, installations, administrative management, and more, including a history of the West and a doctoral thesis as artistic works. In 2002, the exhibition project “Ir y venir de Valcárcel Medina” (Come and Go by Valcárcel Medina) presented the first retrospective of his career. In the years following, he was awarded the 2007 Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas and the 2015 Premio Velázquez de Artes Plásticas. The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía also devoted a major exhibition to his work, “Autumn 2009”.
Born in Murcia in 1937, Isidoro Valcárcel Medina moved to Madrid in 1956, where he briefly pursued studies in Architecture and Fine Arts before dropping out. After some initial experiments in informalist abstraction, he turned towards strict formal abstraction, which subsequently drew him closer to trends in constructivist and concrete art. On Medina’s first solo exhibition in Madrid (1962), Ángel Crespo wrote, “There exists in this painting, as in all things drawn to the cold and consuming flame of metaphysics, something very much comparable to suicide.” Throughout the 1960s, his art developed towards a reduction of formal elements, approaching post-painterly and minimalist abstraction. The narrative and processual nature of his work during these years is evident in exhibitions such as “Pinturas Secuenciales” (Sequential Paintings, 1962); “Secuencias” (Sequences, 1968); “A continuación: un relato en doce jornadas: lugares, sonidos, palabras” (And then: a tale in 12 days: places, sounds, words, 1970); and “Algunas maneras de hacer esto” (Some ways to do this, 1969), along with a book of the same title. From 1968, following the Armarios series (works involving the framing of the picture), he began constructing his Lugares (visual environments comprising geometric structures) where he sought to create an art “to be lived,” a “habitable art.”
His involvement in the Encuentros de Pamplona festival in 1972 marks the second major period of his career. The installation of Estructuras Tubulares in the middle of the street lead to his understanding the significance of public art: “I presented a work that could be called ‘visual,’ and realized that it was one that was exclusively social.” From then on, his work no longer aimed to result in a visual object but rather to highlight, through ephemeral and particular interventions, the social meanings of our public spaces and urban life. During this period, he was drawn towards conceptual innovations, and the appearance and format of his works became highly varied: actionperformance art, reports, measurements, walks, archives, dictionaries, sound recordings, surveys, correspondence, law, lectures, architecture, photography, film, installations, administrative management, and more, including a history of the West and a doctoral thesis as artistic works. In 2002, the exhibition project “Ir y venir de Valcárcel Medina” (Come and Go by Valcárcel Medina) presented the first retrospective of his career. In the years following, he was awarded the 2007 Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas and the 2015 Premio Velázquez de Artes Plásticas. The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía also devoted a major exhibition to his work, “Autumn 2009”.