Jorge Ballester

JORGE BALLESTER (Valencia, 1944-2014).
Untitled, 1982.
Silkscreen on paper. Exemplary 86/75.
Signed and justified in pencil.
Measurements: 69 x 49 cm, 70 x 50 cm (frame).
Jorge Ballester was formed in the School of Fine Arts of Valencia in 1964, where he met Joan Cardells and it was precisely in the university where they met the artists of Estampa Popular, as well as the precursors of Equipo Crónica. Although Equipo Realidad was founded in 1965, it was not until 1966 when he began his artistic career, with the painting "El entierro del estudiante Orgaz". In these early years the duo combined painting with the creation of posters and magazine covers. Some time later they made two visits to Paris where they discovered new tendencies, as well as spending a year working in Milan. They finally returned to work in 1972 after signing a contract with the Punto gallery in Valencia, which provided them with the necessary economic stability to focus on their pictorial production. Thus began a new stage in the production of Equipo Realidad, characterized by a greater informative potential of the images and a flight from indiscriminate satire. His work will now be more subtle, and the acrylics and flat colors of the first stage will disappear in favor of oil and degraded colors. In 1976 Cardells left the group and, although Ballester continued to work under the same name with the photographer Enrique Carrazoni, Equipo Realidad finally disbanded in 1977. In this period of ten years, the duo held more than a hundred exhibitions, including solo and group exhibitions. Works by Equipo Realidad are currently held at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and the IVAM in Valencia, among other collections. In April 2019 the Bancaja Foundation of Valencia has dedicated an important anthology to the figure of Jorge Ballester.