Barquero: "I paint out of necessity, it's a physiological need."

Barcelona"Pierced by compassion, the artist says: drink my blood, feed on my renunciations, until the earth and sky become carrion." With this powerful motto, poet Gabriel Ventura presents the exhibition by José Luis Barquero (Barcelona, ​​​​1997) at the Mayoral gallery in Barcelona, ​​​​on display only until this Saturday, September 6. "It is not easy to find artists of this age with that intention and this radicalism," says gallery owner Jordi Mayoral. "We also come from painting, from tradition, and in their works there are elements that fit us from Goya, Tàpies, Barceló, Saura and the German painting of the eighties, and then, as always, the current artist must make the current artist the art that is unfinished."

The exhibition is titled The Dump; that is, the dunghill. And in Tibetan tradition, the hill where the dead are left to be devoured by vultures. The eight large-format paintings that comprise it draw attention for their emotional charge. Among the themes are two crucifixions, a man carrying another on his shoulders, and another holding a child in his arms. "The hand is the beginning of giving. All gifts come from the hands: I give a gift to the child, I help the elderly, the brushstroke and the caress," writes Ventura. "I see a certain tenderness and hope, obviously," says José Luis Barquero, known simply as Barquero in the art world. "It's like an act of resistance. Amidst so much information, and with all those wars and killings, what I can do is this; it's my channel," he explains.

Born in Barcelona, ​​Barquero trained at Central Saint Martins in London and completed a master's degree in film at Pompeu Fabra University. He asserts that Albert Serra is one of his inspirations, and that painting is "the most powerful anchor" in his work. Before exhibiting at the Mayoral gallery, he did so in Madrid and London, and his collectors include Carmen Thyssen, Los Javis, Pablo Sáez, and the designer Palomo Spain. "I paint out of necessity; it's a physiological need. What's interesting is the process, the threshold, how I come to generate the images, which emerge from the stains, from the strokes, from the lines," says the artist. "I believe my work reflects an inheritance from the tradition of Zurbarán to nearby Tàpies and Saura. I feel thematically and conceptually the same way I feel. So exhibiting in this gallery is special, because in a way, you share the entire Mayoral tradition." "Painting is too much, it's unattainable, dense; it's a magma," he emphasizes.

As for how he renews themes from tradition, Barquero asserts their relevance: "They are images that can speak of ancient Babylon, but they can also speak of the present moment. The image returns again and again. The archetypes are more alive than ever; I mean, right now they permeate us everywhere: on screens, on the Internet." So art becomes a spur to awaken consciousness. "But since images are so democratized, we no longer notice them, and on the other hand, if you see them in a painting, they do catch your attention," the artist points out.