16 September - 31 October 2021 - Solo exhibition " Fragments of the Memory" José Maria Guerrero Medina - Paintings - Un artista de referència. Diari Bondia 17/09/2021- Carmen Soler Castellà

Exhibition curated by Aminda Saludes - Mosaic - Watercolor on paper 27 x 22 - 48 pieces

Taranmana art gallery opens this fall’s agenda 2021-2022 with a leading artist: GUERRERO MEDINA. The title of the exhibition, ‘Fragments de Memòria’, (Fragments of Memory) has been chosen by the artist himself, because his memory is the essence of his art.

Guerrero Medina is not only a leading artist for been one of a few to occupy, in a retrospective in 2020, the entire Volart space in the Vila Casas Foundation (1,500 m2), nor for being the choice of the best art critics from all over, or for being one of the artists of the Sala Parés. Neither, because his artworks are part of art collections as important as that of Antoni Vila Casas, Fausto Serra de Dalmases, Imma Barri, Jaume Lleonart, Joan Antoni Maragall, or the well-known architect J. Manuel Infiesta, among others.

Guerrero Medina is a leading artist in Spanish art, as he is one of the main representatives of the Spanish Expressionist figuration of the second half of the twentieth century.

The other day I was  shown the 59 works that will be exhibited at the gallery. Oils in large format; oils in small format, configuring a mosaic, that in concept had been presented in the retrospective in the Volart space; and watercolors and wash. Enthusiastically, I thought Guerrero Medina's work was seamless in its authenticity, expression and aesthetics.

The retrospective I previously mentioned in the Volart space was titled: My commitment. The chronicle published in El Periódico at that moment, made a correct reference to it, in writing: "My commitment is intended, as its name indicates, to the artist’s commitment to the social aspect, to commitment in itself and a commitment to art". This unique and individual authenticity is seamlessly conveyed in his work.

The expressive force of his characters spring from within him to express the outside world, figures without any individual identity that evoke the coming and going of humanity in their achievements and mistakes. Intimate figures that arise from his memory, almost inherently, that connect with the spectator in an emotional and aesthetic way. In this sense, Josep Lorman writes: "If art is emotion, involvement and research, Josep Maria Guerrero Medina is a good artist. Because all this is present in the work of this Andalusian painter and sculptor".

Figures well delimited by thick and sometimes fragmented black lines. Through a chromatic palette created to be representative of the artist’s artistic language – as through its textures - one can see the strength and intention of the artist. He expresses an aesthetic authenticity and a conceptual will, through shape, color and texture. 

It is his personal artistic expression that allows us to qualify the work of Guerrero Medina in the most rigorous sense that one can describe art.

To me it is a source of inspiration and enthusiasm that Taranmana proposes Guerrero Medina within its exhibition program. I am certain that visitors who pass through the gallery will not be indifferent to the show, and that the works will entrap them in an inspiring, aesthetic and artistic world.

As I write this article, I am invaded by the powerlessness of not accurately reflecting Guerrero’s paintings, as on paper, I leave aside the premise of contemplation, essential in art. For this reason, I take refuge in the words of Dr. Wolfgang Hagemann, when he writes about Guerrero Medina, saying: (…)"his paintings press on the fiber of my heart, activate my mind and make my body feel"(…)

Carmen Soler Castellà

Art historian