Xesús Vázquez
Pentes (Ourense) 1946

Xesús Vázquez is a key figure in the development of Spanish painting since the 1980s and the creator of an oeuvre whose geometric abstraction and lyrical brushwork make it seem disturbing and destabilising. He combines his career as an artist with his work as a writer in specialist journals such as Comercial de la Pintura (1983-1984) and as a poet. In 1982 he received a creative grant from the Spanish Ministry of Culture and later, in 1987, he took the Prize at the II Albacete Painting Biennial. Vázquez has also obtained the Painting Constitution Prize of the Autonomous Government of Extremadura (1992); the Endesa Visual Arts Grant from Teruel Provincial Council (1995) and the Todisa Painting Award (1999).

His first solo show was at the Ourense Provincial Archaeological Museum in 1968. His work has since been displayed in important exhibitions at the Santander Fine Arts Municipal Museum (1974, 1980 & 1983); the Juan March Foundation (Madrid, 1981); the Marcelino Botín Foundation (Santander, 1988); the San Telmo Museum (San Sebastián, 1995); the Centre for Contemporary Art of Galicia (Santiago de Compostela, 1996, 2004 & 2005); the Álava Fine Arts Museum (Vitoria-Gasteiz, 1991); the Mie Prefectural Art Museum (Tsu, Japan, 1991); the Maison d’Art Georges Pompidou (Paris, 1991); the Rufino Tamayo Museum (Mexico City, 1992); the Bogota Modern Art Museum (1992); the Sofía Imber Contemporary Art Museum (Caracas, 1992); Círculo de Bellas Artes (Madrid, 1994 & 1997); Sala Montcada exhibition room at ‘La Caixa’ Foundation (Barcelona, 1994); the Spanish Contemporary Art Museum (Madrid, 1996); the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia (Norwich, United Kingdom 1998); the Zachęta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki (Warsaw 2001); the Cervantes Institute in Berlin (2003); and the Luis Seoane Foundation (A Coruña, 2010).

Vázquez has taken part in events including the I Independent Salon of Galician Artists (Vigo, 1973); the Pontevedra Biennial (1983 & 1987); Art 17’86 (Basel, Switzerland, 1986); the Salón de los 16 at the Spanish Museum of Contemporary Art (Madrid, 1986); Art Cologne (Cologne, Germany, 1987); Arco (Madrid, on many occasions since the end of the 1980s); Art Basel (Basel, Switzerland, 2004); ART LA (Los Angeles, United States, 1988 & 1989); Art Frankfurt (Frankfurt, Germany, 1990); and the Chicago International Art Fair (Chicago, United States, 1990 and 2004).

Frederic Montornés