Said the Greek philosopher Aristotle: The aim of art is not to represent the external appearance of things, but their inner meaning.
The works that Carlos Franco presents in Galería Miguel Marcos from May 10th under the title Canta el sauce, invites the viewer to travel an introspective journey, through an apparently heterogenous theme, but with the human conditions as subtle thread driver of different situations: some are real and others apocryphal.
After his previous exhibition Ecos Revertidos (September-October-2013), in which the force of the color of his paintings was the vital element that captured the attention of the viewer, insisting on "keep his way of recording the seen," a clear evocation of baroque mannerism, Canta el sauce, without forgetting the figuration that characterizes him, the recurrence to the themes that involve individual atavism, and the study of the symbols of the collective unconscious, con the mythological motives and illusory allegories the main nexus of union, the artist proposes a journey through the force that the Nature exerts on the life along with the solitude of the protagonism of the human being: A sample that invites to think of a critical essence of the work, which unconsciously emits a feeling of uneasiness.
In his claim for Nature, for the existence that is generated from it, and that the human condition, through the prepotency that the intellectual development and new technologies offers us, seeks to succumb to his will, the artist presents dense and variegated landscapes, without any cult to clarity or bucolic contemplation, where the human being is surrounded by a hostile environment, represented by spots of homogeneous colors within the particular adoration he feels for them, figuration little defined but perfectly explicit, vehement and agile brushwork, within a complex composition in its visualization, almost touching the abstraction, and balanced in its embodiment.
In reference to the human being, man or woman, although in this section, it is the women who dominate the context, Carlos Franco returns to the mythology that illustrates rites and incarnates philosophy, science and mysticism, which allows him, through the images, to gradually reach a significance for himself, to offer works of audacious approach and absolute contemporaneity. A very determined and accented figure, voluptuous and full of sensuality, in her most intrinsic representation of fertility, dominates the center of a cheerful, vital and optimistic work, not exempt from invective, as opposed to what has been previously mentioned. A palette full of bright light and spontaneity, through a domain of drawing, tangible in all its creations, but perfectly conclusive in these pieces, configures a theme of women's claim, and their capacity for generation and regeneration, within a context of isolation not exempt from incomprehension.
An exhibition in which an thoughtful, arduous and laborious task is appreciated, in which relentless criticism and pictorial exigency continue to reach high levels, without obviating the artist's lack of confidence in understanding the reality in itself, and which continues to lead him to a tormented thought.
CARLOS FRANCO (Madrid, 1951), began to paint in the decade of the 70s, within the confluence of the New Figuration Madrileña. In the decade of the 80s together with other artists, it contributes to renew the Spanish painting. He is attracted to symbolic motifs, classical mythology and the unconscious, as well as the great masters of the past, such as Delacroix and Ingres, experienced with the juxtaposition of images and the voluptuousness of color.
He has cultivated various artistic techniques, and is now considered one of the most prestigious painters at the national level, with works in important collections.
Among its most ambitious projects, decorating the facade of the 'Real Casa de la Panadería' in Plaza Mayor (Madrid), which meant one of his most important projects. In 2004, due to a travelling exhibition organised by the 'Sociedad Estatal' para la Acción Cultural Exterior, his paintings have been exhibited in different museums in South America, Panama, Colombia and Brazil. In 2007 the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia curated an exhibition of his graphic art at the Monastery of Silos in Burgos.
His work forms part of museums and public collections such as ARTIUM Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo (Vitoria, Spain), Colección Los Bragales (Santander, Spain), Colección de Arte Contemporáneo “La Caixa” (Barcelona, Spain) and MNCARS Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid, Spain).