José Luis Alexanco was an all-round artist who, in addition to his drawings, paintings, graphic art, sculpture and audiovisual installations, was one of the forerunners of computational art in Spain. He first studied drawing and engraving in Madrid then took part in the ‘Automatic Generation of Art Forms’ seminars at Madrid University’s Computing Centre between 1968 and 1974. Right from his earliest work, he strived for mass development of forms taken from fragments of the moving human body, which he then applied by creating a software that generated an infinite number of topological 3-D forms. That was then translated into art by making sculptures out of resin or methacrylate. In 1971, Alexanco and the composer Luis de Pablo created Interrupted Solitude, a plastic-sound installation that premiered in Buenos Aire. It was also performed at the 1972 Pamplona Encounters, which Alexanco organised and directed. In 1975, he decided to return to painting with a series of abstract works. They show his interest in sequentiality, reiteration and the accumulation of form aimed at organising sign motifs (calligraphic, geometric, biomorphic) in grids, so that make their compositions exceed the very framework of painting ad infinitum.
His work was shown at the São Paulo Biennial (1967, 1971 and 1981); his solo shows include the ones at the City of Paris Museum of Modern Art (Paris, 1972), the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon, 1974), the Sala Amós Salvador (Logroño, 1994) and the Santa Mónica Art Centre (Barcelona, 1998). He won the National Etching Award in 1965.
José Luis Alexanco was an all-round artist who, in addition to his drawings, paintings, graphic art, sculpture and audiovisual installations, was one of the forerunners of computational art in Spain. He first studied drawing and engraving in Madrid then took part in the ‘Automatic Generation of Art Forms’ seminars at Madrid University’s Computing Centre between 1968 and 1974. Right from his earliest work, he strived for mass development of forms taken from fragments of the moving human body, which he then applied by creating a software that generated an infinite number of topological 3-D forms. That was then translated into art by making sculptures out of resin or methacrylate. In 1971, Alexanco and the composer Luis de Pablo created Interrupted Solitude, a plastic-sound installation that premiered in Buenos Aire. It was also performed at the 1972 Pamplona Encounters, which Alexanco organised and directed. In 1975, he decided to return to painting with a series of abstract works. They show his interest in sequentiality, reiteration and the accumulation of form aimed at organising sign motifs (calligraphic, geometric, biomorphic) in grids, so that make their compositions exceed the very framework of painting ad infinitum.
His work was shown at the São Paulo Biennial (1967, 1971 and 1981); his solo shows include the ones at the City of Paris Museum of Modern Art (Paris, 1972), the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon, 1974), the Sala Amós Salvador (Logroño, 1994) and the Santa Mónica Art Centre (Barcelona, 1998). He won the National Etching Award in 1965.