Lluís Hortalà

Lluís Hortalà - Pedraforca northern face

Técnica: Pencil

Biografía del Artista: Lluís Hortalà (Olot, 1959) studied in 2014 and 2015 at the prestigious Van der Kelen Logelain school to learn the techniques that Alfred Van der Kelen established at the end of the 19th century for decorative painting. There he trained to imitate the texture of marble, which he now masterfully applies to a set of falsely voluminous objects. His aim is to capture the viewer's gaze and immerse it in a web of tensions and contortions, thereby bringing into play a certain archaeology of the scopic regime from the very physical affectation of the eye. Trompe-l'oeil allows Hortalà to return reflection on art and visuality to the bodily experience through a set of objects that manage to deceive the eye again and again - even though the viewer's consciousness seems to have discovered the trick.

LLUÍS HORTALÀ was born in Olot (Girona), a city in the northeast of Catalonia, close to the Pyrenees and France. Although self-taught, he studied at the Sant Jordi School of Fine Arts in Barcelona, ​​1977-78. His exhibition “Opac” in 1991 at the Moncada space in Barcelona “Fundación La Caixa”, marked the beginning of the series of works known as “topographies of sight”, circular wall sculptures made of wood covered with polyester. Then came other works related to architecture and later, to the structures of the body. Meanwhile, he also began to experiment with ceramics. Between 1995 and 2001 he lived and worked in London at the Delfina Studio residency, where he gained an appreciation for landscape themes, light installation, drawing and sculpture. He then began working on pieces that captured and reflected his own experiences as a mountaineer. This series of work lasted until 2013. Later, in 2014/15, he attended the Van Der Kelen Academy in Brussels to study ancient painting, marble and imitation wood based on trompe l'oeil techniques. This allowed him to break away from past works and move on to a completely new series where he expresses his own critique of the overthrowing power of influential 19th century museums over subjects of history, architecture and art. Lluis Hortalà has exhibited in several museums, including; MNCARS (Madrid), La Fundaçao Gulbenkian (Lisbon), Atrio (Vitoria) and “Le carrée” (Nimes) among others. He also has permanent works in important collections and museums.