Juan Gomila

JUAN GOMILA (Barcelona, 1942).
"Double silhouette", 1976.
Mixed media canvas.
Signed, dated and titled on the back.
Measurements: 112 x 112 cm.
This work presents a vibrant and fragmented composition that dialogues with the tradition of figurative art and contemporary abstraction, typical of the artist's work. Through superimposed forms, dynamic lines and an intense palette, the artist constructs two figures that seem to intertwine and decompose at the same time, suggesting a duality of identity or perception. The use of geometric planes and transparencies recalls influences of cubism and pop art, while the distortion of the faces brings an expressive and almost disturbing charge. Gomila plays with visual ambiguity: what seems solid dissolves, and what should be recognizable becomes fragmentary.
Juan Gomila is one of the artists of reference in the Spanish post-Pop Art scene. He began his work in the sixties, focusing on the reflection on the value of color and signs in a world saturated with signs. In 1974 he represented Spain at the Alexandria Biennial, winning the First Prize, and three years later he also represented Spain at the São Paulo Biennial. In 1978 he won the Second Prize for Painting at the VII International Biennial of Sport in Fine Arts (Barcelona), and in 1980 he represented Spain again, this time at the Venice Biennial. In 2007 he began to work exclusively with digital photography, and the following year he presented an important retrospective exhibition at the Barjola Museum in Gijón. He is currently represented in the MNCA Reina Sofía, the Contemporary Art Museums of Vilafamés, Palma de Mallorca and Bialystock (Poland), the Biblioteca Comunale in Milan, the Museo Jovellanos in Gijón, the Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias, the Textil de la Indumentaria in Barcelona, the Salvador Allende Museum in Santiago de Chile, the collections of the Consejo Superior de Deportes, Argentaria, Caja de Asturias, Azcona and Pere A. Serra, and the Masave Foundations. Serra and the Masaveu and Aena Foundations.