Annette Barcelo
BELLEZZE
25.10.–22.12.2024

24.10.2024, 18-20h: Vernissage

12.12.2024, 18–19.30h: Apéro with the Artist

BELLEZZE is not only the title of Annette Barcelo’s first solo exhibition at see you next tuesday, but also translates to ‘beauties’ and ‘treasures’ in Italian. Does this align with what the viewer encounters, or is it a playful and ironic nod to the traditional ideals of beauty ingrained in the visual language of art history?

The works, painted on glass and canvas, reveal fantastical creatures—women who seamlessly merge with animals, their boundaries fluid and indistinct. In some paintings, these ‘animal figures’ emanate a disorienting emotional intensity. Barcelo conjures a surreal, mystical realm where death and cruelty are not unfamiliar. Within this singular universe, the artist leaves it to the viewer to unravel the enigmas she subtly weaves.

Using acrylic, chalk, charcoal, and pencil, Barcelo crafts existential tableaux of humans, animals, and hybrid beings, set against backdrops of geometric and floral patterns. Elephants, monkeys, cats, rabbits, bats, and mythical creatures narrate cryptic, metaphysical tales. Are they the echoes of dreams, myths, or perhaps ‘merely’ unusual states of consciousness?

But what, then, is the connection to beauty? While each work constitutes a world unto itself, collectively, they form a cohesive narrative. Here, Barcelo interrogates conventional ideas of beauty, offering instead a reimagined concept that grants the female figure autonomy over her own existence, life, and appearance.

BELLEZZE, also the title of the series, unmistakably aligns with Barcelo’s broader oeuvre. Her work consistently gives rise to unique worlds, populated by bizarre and striking figures. Barcelo has assembled a bestiary of eerie creatures, witch-like priestesses, and chimeras—beings suspended between life and death, wielding a mysterious power over mortality and rebirth. At times, these figures may serve as metaphors for human individuals, yet the female form remains steadfast at the heart of her visual lexicon.

For a period, Annette Barcelo remained relatively quiet, until 2023, when two solo exhibitions marked her 80th birthday—one at TANK, the exhibition space of Art Gender Nature at HGK Basel, curated by Chus Martínez, and the other at Galleria Madragoa in Lisbon. “In recent years, we have rediscovered the work of many women artists from older generations, including that of Annette Barcelo. This prompts important questions: Was Barcelo’s work previously overlooked, or are we only now beginning to recognize its significance? I would argue for the latter” Martínez wrote in her accompanying text for the exhibition. We wholeheartedly agree and are thrilled to present Barcelo’s new works at see you next tuesday.

Annette Barcelo (*1943, Basel) lives and works in Basel. She attended the Schule für Gestaltung in Basel (Basel School of Design). Her artistic practice has spanned more than five decades; she often works in series using various techniques, such as painting, drawing, and printmaking. Her distinctive visual language explores the connections between various areas of life, including birth and death, flora and fauna, and different mythologies. Barcelo’s works have been widely exhibited, including at Galerie Anne de Villepoix in Paris, Galleria Madragoa in Lisbon, Galerie Mäder in Basel, and the Aargauer Kunsthaus in Aarau.

List of works:

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