Composición abstracta n.º 4 (Limbo) [Abstract Composition nº 4 (Limbo)]

Composición abstracta n.º 4 (Limbo) [Abstract Composition nº 4 (Limbo)]

  • 1995
  • Acrylic on canvas
  • 170 x 170 cm
  • Cat. P_613
  • Acquired in 1998
By:
Beatriz Herráez

In 1995, José Maldonado staged an exhibition at the Helga de Alvear Gallery in Madrid under the title 'Limbo', and the term has become an identifying trait of his output. It is used in reference to his online projects www.e-limbo.org, 'un e-zine de información y análisis de modos de vida actual' ['An e-zine of information on and analysis of current ways of life'] and www.limboboy.org.

'Limbo' took his exploration of visual arts a step further towards more reflexive work, showing concern for modern visual frameworks and image theories. He had already touched on these issues in exhibitions such as 'El gran teatro del mundo' ['The Great Theatre of the World'] at the Juana Mordó Gallery (Madrid, 1993), and 'Cámaras hidráulicas' ['Hydraulic Chambers'] at the same gallery in 1992. In 'Limbo', Maldonado reproduced at the exhibition venue the elements that could be found in his studio, creating a replica of his usual work-space. The exhibition centres on a set of pieces which, paraphrasing the press comments of the time, 'invite us to explore the time just before the work is created, a time when it exists only as an idea, beyond the redemption and condemnation that its actual materialisation may entail'.

In a conversation with Maldonado published in the magazine Acción paralela 5 in 1995, the critic José Luis Brea defines his output as a potential space for carrying out active thinking: 'In all his works there is a speculation as to the thingness of being subjected (and ceasing to be so), in correlation to a certain animism of objects'. In the same magazine an article by major critic Manel Clot called 'Ficciones residentes, reflejos sónicos (cosas que nunca te dije)' ['Resident Fictions, sound reflections (things I never told you)'] argued that 'the nature of Maldonado's works as demo events is highlighted by their sense of showing only the vertex of the wholly unattainable, of the incomplete, of the impossible and all their many reasons: Limbo (1995), Sound System (1997), Sonado, mal soñado, desafinado, purloined (1998) ['Sounded, ill-dreamt, out-of-tune, purloined'],  M.A.L., No Baile ['No Dance'], Blinde Zukunft, 1 x 2, Epitafio ['Epitaph'] (1999)'.

Beatriz Herráez

 
By:
Beatriz Herráez
José Maldonado
Valencia 1962

In 1995, José Maldonado staged an exhibition at the Helga de Alvear Gallery in Madrid under the title 'Limbo', and the term has become an identifying trait of his output. It is used in reference to his online projects www.e-limbo.org, 'un e-zine de información y análisis de modos de vida actual' ['An e-zine of information on and analysis of current ways of life'] and www.limboboy.org.

'Limbo' took his exploration of visual arts a step further towards more reflexive work, showing concern for modern visual frameworks and image theories. He had already touched on these issues in exhibitions such as 'El gran teatro del mundo' ['The Great Theatre of the World'] at the Juana Mordó Gallery (Madrid, 1993), and 'Cámaras hidráulicas' ['Hydraulic Chambers'] at the same gallery in 1992. In 'Limbo', Maldonado reproduced at the exhibition venue the elements that could be found in his studio, creating a replica of his usual work-space. The exhibition centres on a set of pieces which, paraphrasing the press comments of the time, 'invite us to explore the time just before the work is created, a time when it exists only as an idea, beyond the redemption and condemnation that its actual materialisation may entail'.

In a conversation with Maldonado published in the magazine Acción paralela 5 in 1995, the critic José Luis Brea defines his output as a potential space for carrying out active thinking: 'In all his works there is a speculation as to the thingness of being subjected (and ceasing to be so), in correlation to a certain animism of objects'. In the same magazine an article by major critic Manel Clot called 'Ficciones residentes, reflejos sónicos (cosas que nunca te dije)' ['Resident Fictions, sound reflections (things I never told you)'] argued that 'the nature of Maldonado's works as demo events is highlighted by their sense of showing only the vertex of the wholly unattainable, of the incomplete, of the impossible and all their many reasons: Limbo (1995), Sound System (1997), Sonado, mal soñado, desafinado, purloined (1998) ['Sounded, ill-dreamt, out-of-tune, purloined'],  M.A.L., No Baile ['No Dance'], Blinde Zukunft, 1 x 2, Epitafio ['Epitaph'] (1999)'.

Beatriz Herráez

 
«Limbo» (Madrid, 1996).
Vv.Aa. Colección Banco de España. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Banco de España, 2019, vol. 3.