On February 5th, Galería Javier López in Madrid officially closed their exhibition by the New York artist Alex Katz. Portraits included a selection of works which brought the artist wide recognition, including some of his most recent pieces, both oil on canvas and studies on board.
Katz’ unique style that distinguishes him from his contemporaries was the result of the influence of photography, cinema, television and advertising of the sixties. Using a large canvas format as a movie screen and trying to re-create similar aesthetics, his work has always been dominated by the presence of the female form. Portraits gave visitors a great overview of that – capturing the beauty in his surroundings and trying to convey elegance through the details on his subjects. Painted in a single sitting, the American artist’s models appear as enigmatic and distant as Renaissance portraits, but at the same time original, modern and iconic. This modern feel of his work is accented with fashionable accessories such as hats or sunglasses, as well as unusual compositions and neutral or monochromatic backgrounds. Seeing as his works are part of more than a hundred public collections worldwide, from New York’s MoMA, Whitney and Metropolitan, to the Tate Modern in London, the MMK in Frankfurt, the Albertina in Vienna, the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, and the Guggenheim in Bilbao, this show was a great opportunity for Madrid art lovers to enjoy these iconic pieces.
