Antes del Arte was a Valencian group of artists in the1970s whose career has had a special importance on Spanish contemporary art. The research group is interested in the relationship between art and science. This means the indifference towards the possibilities of working between both fields of knowledge.
The exhibition offers a retrospective view on the short but intense life of this collective in an especially important period of history...1968. It collects a considerable part of the works that were collected in the three main samples of the group (School of Architects, Valencia, 1968; Eurocasa Gallery, Madrid, 1968; and As Gallery, Barcelona, 1969).
A reduced group of plastic artists (Michavila, Sanz, Sempere, Sobrino, De Soto, Teixidor and Yturralde) and musicians (Marco and Llácer) inspired by the critic Aguilera Cerni organised a consistent proposal that combined both disciplines. Additionally, a notable contextualization was reached in the artistic European environment, especially in the Italian one.
In fact, the second half of the 1970s was characterised by the predominance of two antithetical options: pop critical realism and geometrical abstraction. In Valencia these dialectics were clearly observed through the alternation that characterized the stance taken by Aguilera, who was largely influenced by Argan.
Concurrently, the exhibition wants to address the immediately previous and subsequent productions of the artists, too. It this way, it can assess the jobs of the members of Antes del Arte, especially those that were in the early stages of their professional careers.
It is well-known that Yturralde was at the beginning of a long career influenced by the tension between art and science. Later, she would take advantage of some of the most advanced technologies of the moment to sort the tensions during the two following decades. For others, it was not an important experience for their evolution as artists. This is the case of Teixidor and De Soto, who then started to develop their own plans and poetry apart from this type of experiences.
In any case, the exhibition is considered a critical and compared revision of the participation of the three previously mentioned artists, as well as others with more experience such as Michavila, Sanz, Sempere and Sobrino. You can clearly appreciate the different stages of commitment that each artist had on the project.
The exhibition aims to reproduce half a century later the environment of those exhibitions in which objects and mobile devices capable of generating diverse optical, perceptive and structural experiences were put in front of the spectator (appealing in many occasions to the physical basis that were used by mass media and media companies in the period). It has a double intention: on the one hand, it aims to manifest the interest and relevance of the initiative. On the other hand, it analyses the impact that Antes del Arte had on the careers of the artists involved.
Santiago Pastor Vila
