Room 4 & 5

José Manuel Ballester (Madrid, 1960) is a painter and photographer. He graduated in Fine Arts in 1984 from the Complutense University of Madrid. In 2010, he received the National Photography Award for his personal trajectory, unique interpretation of architectural space and light, and significant innovation in photographic techniques, as stated by the jury.

The artist has also been awarded with the Premio Nacional de Grabado en 1999, the Goya de Pintura Villa de Madrid (2006) y the prize of photography from the Comunidad de Madrid (2008). His artistic career began in painting, and from 1990 onwards, he started combining painting and photography. Among his numerous solo exhibitions, the following stand out: Setting Out (New York, 2003), Room 523 (National Museum Center of Art Reina Sofía, Madrid, 2005), and Forests of Light (Kursaal, 2015).

In CORPO, in April 2022, he inaugurated the exhibition From Mondrian to Malevich, where he deconstructs and recreates the works of two of the most universal exponents of abstract and geometric art: the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian (1872-1944, a precursor of neoplasticism) and the Ukrainian artist Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935, the creator of suprematism). Ballester creates different variations based on the works of both artists (digital prints on canvas, 2022). Three central screens project two videos about the variations around Malevich and a third one about Mondrian. The exhibition, which establishes an interesting dialogue with works from the collection that fall under constructivism, futurism, and other avant-garde currents, opens in room 1.

He does this with a video creation that merges the geometry of both masters, not only reversing the patterns of their compositional elements but also their primary colors. The video is projected onto the remains of the wall that was the first Islamic Alficén of the city and the chambers attributed to Al-Mamun, king of the Taifa of Toledo between 1043 and 1075.

Nace en Clayton (Missouri). Pintor y escultor autodidacta, a los 20 años obtiene el primer premio en la Exposición de Missouri con su pintura parcialmente goteada, Roman Boy; la revista Life le dedica una página. Le influyen Willem de Kooning y el poeta Ezra Pound, pero no se adscribe a ningún movimiento. En 1964 crea su serie más famosa, The Falling Man. Su hombre imperfecto y vulnerable, sin brazos y panzudo, aparece en esculturas, pinturas y grabados. Expone en distintas ediciones de la Bienal de Whitney y de Venecia, y en la Documenta de Kassel (Alemania). En 1969, el New York Times lo proclama uno de los mejores escultores norteamericanos modernos. Su trabajo se muestra en el MoMA, el Guggenheimy el Whitney Museum of American Art (Nueva York);el Walker Art Center (Minneapolis) o la Tate Modern (Londres). Durante más de 20 años es representado por la célebre Galería Pace (Nueva York); en 1984 la dejó e inició una serie de decisiones erróneas –encaminadas a hacer producciones masivas y comerciales de sus trabajos– que lo condujeron a una etapa final de decadencia y olvido.