JAVIER CALLEJA: SI YO TE CONTARA

Five years since his last solo exhibition in the city and over a decade since his solo debut with the gallery, Javier Calleja is coming back to Madrid for a solo presentation with Galería Rafael Pérez Hernando entitled Si Yo Te Contara... (If I Told You...).

During an emotionally intense period filled with uncertainty and longing from familiarity, Malagan artist is looking at his beginnings and reliving his past with one of the first galleries he ever worked with. This peculiar sentiment of homecoming and friendliness is captured in the common Spanish phrase that is used for the title of the show and extends all the way to the installation as well as each individual piece by itself.

During his earlier years, Calleja’s work has been regularly experimenting with the scale and the ways of displaying the work, often utilizing the impact of minimalism. For a long time, the “less is more” phrase served as the artist’s maxim when it came to both creating the work and building his exhibits. And this show is reviving this affection through a series of new drawings on paper and two big-scale paintings on canvas which will be introduced in a simple, yet impactful manner. With each work being individually illuminated with elegant yet discrete lamps designed by the Italian designer Davide Groppi, the minimalist installation puts the accent on individual pieces, creating a micropresentation around each work.

For this series of drawings, Calleja went back to using ripped out book pages and found paper, and reviving some of the elements of his earlier practice. Using more lively, vibrant tones than usual and adding more realistic attributes to his subjects, such as the volume, shadows, shine, glow, and blush, he is combining the aesthetic of his past works with the current, renowned visual language that earned him worldwide recognition. Yet, this whimsical foreground is put into stark contrast with the hand gestures or texts on the shirt of his subjects, which are capturing on the uncertain actuality of this moment in time. Let’s See, Delicate Issue, And?, The Only Way Is Up, Everything Is Going To Be OK are reflecting the lethargic attitude of constant anticipation and adaptation which we’re bound to accept. And by depicting these images on aged paper, Calleja creates a sort of time capsule which stays as a document of the historic reality we’re living in.

MADRID. February 25th – April 24th 2021