Madrid
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German Gomez (Gijón, 1972) is a plastic artist whose means of expression is photography. He is currently exhibiting his most recent production at the ABC stand at ARCOmadrid. From a very young age he knew that he would grow up with a camera in his hand –he was encouraged to do so in college– and he seeks in art the true reflection of life of the artist, in good or bad times.
Gómez he prefers to move away from that mercantilist aspect that lately “is very present in culture.”
Carlos Aires
Gómez begins with an artist who is very close to him: Carlos Aireswhich exposes –among others– in
DNA Gallery. It highlights this author since his two careers have progressed parallel over the years; “We even look alike,” he jokes.
The works of Aires have fascinated Germán Gómez for a long time. Silhouettes of people, flies and sharks, all captured on banknotes with personalities, “a mixture of politics, passion and sex, all related to society”, highlights this work, which speaks of issues that “touch us all». The reality reflected in art is the most sought after by the expert. Stand 9B16
Angela of the Cross
Angela of the Cross She is the second artist that Gómez recognizes in her journey and that she has also admired for years. They met in England, albeit in different contexts, and she has followed her ever since. «I became interested in her work because deconstruct the canvas», explains the photographer, the main reason for the attachment to the work of the Spanish. In this case, a yellow one –dull tone– deformed by waves along the surface and exposed in the gallery
Thomas Schulte. Gómez does not notice an evolution in her work: “She has been doing the same thing for 20 years,” she justifies. But the basis of her work – “deconstruction” – is the characteristic for which she continues to admire these pieces, an element that he has compared to her own work. Stand 9B06
David Hockney
David Hockney –British– is another artist that Gómez has liked since he was very young. In the New Continent is where the English found their true ‘muses’. Portraits by drawing, “I don’t know if they are children’s”, reflects Germán Gómez. Although “they are not perfection” those exposed in Auction, which have even made him cry with emotion on occasion. «I adore this artist because he has brought his life and his passion to plastic work», he expresses. Stand 9B08
Garcia-Alix, Tillmans, and Garcia Rodero
The gallery of the founder of ARCO,
Juana of Aizpuru, is a mandatory stop for Gómez. There are three photographers chosen there.
Alberto Garcia-Alix, artist who most adores, values and admires. “He counts his life as a intimate diaryno matter how hard it is, ”explains the expert passionately.
Wolfang Tillmans, a well-known author worldwide, is another of those admired by our interlocutor. Daily life expressed through the digital format is the series of his works, from his entire career, that most fascinates him. It is true that at present he is somewhat disillusioned with the German, since “his most recent pieces by him are decorative and they lose that element of reality». special mention to Christina Garcia Rodero, who was Gómez’s teacher. She is the professional thanks to whom the artist has devoted his life to photography. The images of him move away from what he is looking for, with a much more visible social element. But
Garcia Rodero It has been his starting point to get where he is: the experiences he recounted in class aroused the interest of the expert. Stand 9B10
Christo and Jean Claude
In the midst of searching for a specific gallery, Germán Gómez stops to look at some sketches of Christo and Jean Claude on
William of Osma. this marriage”encapsulated buildings, monuments or even everyday objects such as a telephone”, explains the expert. The facilities –the covers–, although ephemeral, also catch his attention. But what he most falls in love with is the sketches. It is another very different format to what has already been mentioned, but where there is drawing, sculpture, fabric and threads, «things that I use in my works”, he explains. Stand 7B17
Pablo Picasso
In the same space, Gómez finds a work by Pablo Picasso. Her opinion of him is very different from her opinion of his works. “As a person, I do not like it very much, I find it very macho, ”he reflects. She is not interested in how he used the figure of the woman in his paintings. But in his dilemma, he does appreciate his need to express their feelings through art and admires that it did not cost him. “The overproduction of his works exceeds me, there are too many,” he relates, concluding his reflection. Stand 7B17
Dario Villalba
In relation to Christo’s work, Germán Gómez approaches the gallery
Leandro Navarro looking for something concrete: ‘Dog’ and ‘Exempt’, from Dario Villalba. This was a figure skater and had a difficult youth: he was gay and his conservative family did not allow him to enjoy that time. His context captured it perfectly in his work: “What I like the most about him are the ‘Encapsulated'”, he explains while pointing to ‘Perro’: the photograph of a small white dog inside a plastic bubble. “It is very similar to the ‘Condemned’” –a series of his–, recalls the expert pointing to the sculpture. His admiration for Darío Villalba dates back to research he did and the similarities Gómez observed. Stand 7B20
Philip Frolich
Changing techniques, the expert returns to the gallery of Juana of Aizpuruthis time for painting, where Germán Gómez highlights the German
Philip Frolich. He highly values his work, his unfocused paintings. “It seems that they have a filter on the lens», explains passionately the expert. Landscape is something he also points to, along with light and other elements on the canvas. The backlighting of the painting and the lighting worthy of a dusk or dawn are other characteristics pointed out by the Spanish photographer. “It is like narrate a dream or something that your eye does not see, ”he clarifies. Stand 9B10
