Marisa Gonzalez

MARISA GONZÁLEZ (Bilbao, 1943)
Untitled, Series paintings of light, 1984.
Electrographic painting.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Provenance: American curator Jack Boulton.
Measurements: 25 x 25 cm, 40 x 40 cm (frame).

The work in question comes from the collection of American curator Jack Boulton, former art consultant to Chase Manhattan Bank, director of the International Exhibitions Committee of the American Federation of Arts in Washington, and director of the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. Boulton acquired this piece during a trip to Spain in 1984, as part of his interest in Spanish artists such as Martín Chirino, Lucio Muñoz, Hernández Mompó, Manuel Rivera and Francisco Farreras. In this context, his choice of Marisa Gonzalez highlights the recognition her work already had in the 1980s on an international level.

This work is part of her production of so-called "light paintings", which she developed during 1983 and 1984, within the series of "electrographic paintings".

Marisa González is a pioneer Spanish artist in the use of technologies in contemporary art. With an initial training in music and a degree in Fine Arts from the Universidad Complutense, she furthered her studies in the United States at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Corcoran School of Art, where she specialized in generative systems and new media.

Since the 1970s she has worked with photocopiers, faxes, computers, photography and video, becoming one of the first artists in Spain to creatively explore these devices. Her work addresses social issues such as feminism, historical memory, industrial archeology and marginalization, always from a critical and experimental point of view.

She has had numerous national and international exhibitions and is considered a key figure in Spanish technological art. In 2023 she received the Velázquez Award for Plastic Arts, and in 2025 the Reina Sofía Museum dedicated a major anthological exhibition to her that consolidated her historical relevance.