Temporary Exhibition “SEOANE. Portraits”
01/06/2019 – 22/05/2021
Museo Ralli Marbella
Luis Seoane
Argentinian by birth, Galician in his heart, Seoane divides his life and artistic career across both lands, being significantly influenced by them both equally.
This exhibition brings us the point of view and expression of an artist who has combined literature, illustration, engraving, painting, longing and struggle to develop a unique artistic language.
Particularly influenced by Joaquín Torres García, Léger and Picasso, Seoane creates his own approach to the plastic arts, in which the simplification of forms and figures prevails, along with the use of pure and vigorous colours.
One constant in his work
Alongside this, other features of Seoane’s work are the repetition of themes like the female form, a demand for social justice, rural Galicia, and the sea ever-present in the background as a constant feature. He depicts working, rural women, as well as those from the city (including his own wife), women who are suffering. The sea is a device used to connect the two continents, this being a common sight both in the Galicia that saw him grow up, and in the Argentina that saw him become an artist.
Predominant amongst his depictions of female figures are those that are shown in a passive attitude, at rest or waiting, whether portraits or full-length figures, situated outdoors, by the sea. By this theme in Seoane’s work, we are reminded of the mothers, wives, sisters and daughters of those who had to fight in the Spanish civil war or had to emigrate, those who they were waiting to see return, as he hoped that Galicia would see him return.
Throughout his artistic career, the repetition of these feminine motives serves him also as a projection of his personal experimental development, both plastic and linguistic. Even though it continues to be the same theme, the use of schematization and plain colours prevail over the motive.
Through the use of this theme, “SEOANE. Portraits” shows the variety of languages developed by the artist, whose career to schematization takes him occasionally to the border of geometrical abstraction
