Equipo Crónica

Equipo Crónica (Valencia, 1964 - 1981).
"Abanico de lunares" 1981.
Eight-color silkscreen on Guarro paper, copy 52/75.
Signed and justified in pencil.
Belonging to the series "Meninas de la Transición".
Measurements: 110 x 75 cm; 131 x 94 cm (frame).

"Abanico de lunares" is an emblematic work of Equipo Crónica, integrated in the series "Meninas de la Transición", one of the most lucid and critical projects of the collective in the last years of its trajectory.

The image is based on the Velázquez iconography of Las Meninas, reinterpreted through a pop, geometric and serial language, characteristic of Equipo Crónica. The female figure appears decomposed in emphatic chromatic planes, constructed as a collage of almost mechanical forms. The polka-dot fan, the central motif, introduces a direct reference to Spanish popular culture, folklore and graphic design, functioning both as a decorative element and as an ironic symbol of identity.

The use of the polka dot, serial repetition par excellence, connects with pop art aesthetics and underlines the group's reflection on the image as a cultural product, reproducible and manipulable. The figure thus becomes a contemporary icon, halfway between the Spanish pictorial tradition and the modern visuality of the mass media. The neutral background and the forcefulness of the black reinforce the graphic and almost advertising reading of the scene.

Within Equipo Crónica's production, this silkscreen represents a mature phase, in which the political discourse becomes more subtle but no less incisive. In the midst of the Spanish Transition, the series revisits the great myths of national art to question the processes of change, the construction of historical memory and the persistence of certain cultural symbols. The silkscreen technique, with its flat colors and industrial precision, is particularly appropriate for this critical approach.

Equipo Crónica (Manolo Valdés and Rafael Solbes) are represented at the IVAM in Valencia, the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, the MACBA in Barcelona, the Juan March Foundation and the Patio Herreriano Museum in Valladolid, among others. In 2007 an exhibition dedicated to Equipo Crónica was organized at the Museo de Arte Abstracto in Cuenca.