Alberto García-Alix

ALBERTO GARCÍA-ALIX (León, 1956).
“A Little Love Story.”
Photograph.
Titled and signed.
Measurements: 14 x 14 cm; 33 x 27 cm (frame).

A renowned Spanish photographer, he was one of the leading figures of the “Movida Madrileña,” with Alaska being one of his most frequently portrayed muses during that era, the 1980s. Ever since García-Alix immortalized the atmosphere and key figures of this cultural movement in the 1980s—figures who would eventually gain prestige in their respective fields (Pedro Almodóvar, Rossy de Palma, Camarón de la Isla...)— his photographic work has also gained in value over the years. He received the National Photography Prize in 1999. He was a special guest of the newspaper *El País* at ARCO’10. He has held solo exhibitions at galleries (Buades, Moriarty, Efti in Madrid; Tecla Sala and H2O in Barcelona, Cavenamen in Seville...) and museums, including: the MUSAC (León), the Galician Center for Contemporary Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid, the Reina Sofía Museum (a retrospective in 2008); and currently, a retrospective dedicated to him is underway at La Virreina Centre de la Imatge in Barcelona: “Alberto García-Alix, autorretrat,” 2013. Whether he appears directly or his most intimate surroundings are depicted—from his cat to his lovers, from his bedroom to the urban corners he rescued from anonymity by weaving them into an epic narrative—his body of work as a whole can be understood as a grand self-portrait. García-Alix describes himself as “a rabid exhibitionist of my time and my anguish.” On another occasion, he states: “The people I’ve met and photographed are only a part of my generation—the most lost part. Ninety percent of my chronological generation has nothing to do with me. I tend to portray anonymous people more than well-known figures. Those I’ve portrayed were always on the edge.”