Joan Cardells

JOAN CARDELLS (Valencia, 1948–2019)
“Woman at the Window,” 1980.
Gouache on cardboard.
Framed with museum-grade glass.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 37 x 30 cm; 49 x 42 cm (frame).
This work belongs to a period of creative maturity in which Cardells explores the human condition through images that are seemingly simple yet laden with psychological and social meaning, establishing a personal figurative style distinct from both academicism and the abstraction that dominated previous decades.
An artist trained at the Schools of Arts and Crafts and the Higher School of Fine Arts in Valencia, Joan Cardells practices painting, drawing, and sculpture, and has also worked as a designer of posters, newsletters, and university publications, in addition to being a member of the Estampa Popular group in Valencia. A member of the Equipo Realidad alongside Jorge Ballester between 1966 and 1977, in 1982 he received the first major recognition of his career: the Cáceres Prize for Sculpture, awarded by the El Brocense Cultural Institution. Seven years later, he was selected to participate in the group exhibition “L’Art pour l’Europe. Sculpture Espagnole Contemporaine,” held in Strasbourg (Council of Europe) and Stuttgart, and in 1990 he held a major solo exhibition at the IVAM. His work is currently represented in that museum, as well as in the Reina Sofía National Art Center (MNCA) in Madrid, the Chase Manhattan Bank collection, the Provincial Councils of Valencia and Cáceres, the Arte Eder Museoa in Vitoria-Gasteiz, and the Coca-Cola Spain and Caja de Burgos foundations.