I recently got involved in an exhibition and event at a Marylebone Gallery, Imitate Modern at 27a Devonshire Street, showcasing a brilliant young Spanish (well technically Catalan) artist in his first London showing. His name is Xavier Gonzalez d”Egara, a fiery and poetic abstract painter from Barcelona who sits in the same deeply emotional terrain as the great master Antoni Tapies who recently passed away.
Xavier actually knew Tapies and certainly there is the same elemental feel about some of his work, combining fire and earth, literally using flame and sand on his canvases. The result has that uniquely Spanish combination of the earthy and the ethereal, technically adept but full of soul and passion.
As well as an impressive exhibition of a series of his paintings, all inspired by specific pieces of music, Xavier put on a display of live painting at a packed gallery which I was honoured to introduce. Again he was backed by a live DJ playing electronic sounds as he spread colour across a perspex sheet, scarifying it with blades and using various implements to create a series of fluid, often very beautiful effects, which would then be wiped out or reformed as a the rhythm and the emotion changed. Eventually, with a genuine sense of tension in the air he picked up a power drill and began at first to beat out a tattoo on the piece before mutilating and then finally destroying it in an act of self vandalism. It was certainly a dramatic end to a fascinating evening.
The remaining works on canvas can be seen at www.imitatemodern.com, but a report and film of the event can be seen here on the website of El Pais Spain’s leading daily newspaper. http://cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2012/03/30/actualidad/1333126587_484800.html
