ABOUT THE ARTIST
When he was an active student at the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Madrid, Pedro Castrortega not only obtained his University’s award for painting, he also concluded his study by graduating the same year in 1983. In 1984 Pedro was awarded the first national prize by the Spanish media “Blanco y Negro”, and a scholarship to travel to New York by the Spanish - American Committee the year after. In 1991 he received another scholarship from the City Council of Paris. Early works of Pedro showed reminiscence of that of Realism, in which figure-made forests or metropolises that included a lot of subject matters were depicted. The artist also connected himself with Neo-figurative art and distorted figures and reality through consecutive transformations and fragmentations. Despite his career as a painter, a sculptor and a graphic designer, as well as an artist who has once embraced Realism and Neo-figuration, Pedro has evolved himself into modern days an artist of Informalism. Without displaying complete abstraction in his works, Pedro’s representations are seen with evidence of symbolic references. The essence of his current works is marked by having the volume and plane equalized to achieve a great expressive force with fluid forms, and by contrasting light with shadow, line with color. Pedro Castrortega has been an important figure in the Spanish art scene for many years now. Regardless of which artistic direction he takes or which style his works represent, Pedro is definitely an artist whose creative energy overflows any borders.
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Having come to Shanghai for his solo exhibition, Spanish artist Pedro Castrortega describes the skyscrapers in the city as sacred monoliths of our time where people live and dream, deciding the destiny of a man. Skyscrapers, representing strengths, throughout the history serve to protect and distinguish themselves in power. Skyline, representing towers on the other hand, serves as universe where human beings see the horizon from the top. The line that connects us to the earth is lost, causing us trapped in geometry that locates and defines us. Pedro’s exhibition consists of works on paper, depicting towers and figures crowned with feelings. The colors and shapes used by Pedro aspire to participate in the remains of time and past. Facing each other, the figures portray commitment for signs and meanings that define our society and, as in earlier times, the way we live.
As his first solo exhibition in Shanghai, Pedro Castortega has actually participated in a group exhibition before, alongside the nephew of Picasso, Xavier, a few years ago also in Shanghai. Being a personal friend of Xavier, Picasso's nephew, Pedro was inspired to put together a collaborative exhibition dedicated solely to Picasso's masterpiece Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. The group exhibition named New Gaze at Picasso’s Desmoiselles then took place in Shanghai, as a tribute to the master of Cubism. This time, Pedro returns with his solo exhibition for the audience in Shanghai.
