That Was Then, This is Now. Museu Can Framis. 2021
That was then, this is now is the title of the first retrospective by Yago Hortal (Barcelona, 1983), one of the most notable Catalan artists of his generation. The exhibition, curated by Enrique Juncosa, features more than forty paintings presented in chronological order covering the artist’s fourteen-year career, since his first exhibition in 2006 and his now substantial international career.
Hortal has carried out a formalist revision of abstract painting, creating images based on the way he applies the paint – large sweeps, splashes, very thick layers of paint… – and its physical characteristics. Moreover, Hortal uses industrial colours and materials that make reference to the urban experience. The exhibition has been curated by the art critic Enrique Juncosa who has frequently written about post-minimalist abstraction.
