Arnau Alemany Batalla, Les Fondations, Circa 1980

Description

This artwork titled "Les Fondations" c.1980 is an original color lithograph by noted Spanish surrealist artist Arnau Alemany Batalla, 1948-2020. … more This artwork titled "Les Fondations" c.1980 is an original color lithograph by noted Spanish surrealist artist Arnau Alemany Batalla, 1948-2020. It is hand signed and numbered 70/150 in pencil by the artist. The artwork size is 30.5 x 22.75 inches, framed size is 41.25 x 33.5 inches. Custom framed in a dark brown frame with fabric backing and bevel. It is in excellent condition.

About the artist:

Arnau Alemany was born in Barcelona in 1948, at the foot of a hill, in one of those neighborhoods that grow organically, without plan or order. Where immigrants arrived from neglected areas of Spain and where the buildings grew, gaining territory up the mountain, along a small range that surrounds the city. During those years, buildings were built in strange, hard-to-reach places, creating other-worldly urban landscapes, not belonging to either nature or man.
He learnt his basics at the local school, showing promise in drawing and crafts, which he enjoyed from his early years. Once 12 years old, he was signed up for the night class at the arts and trade delegation of the neighborhood. Upon completion, he was awarded with a prize which consisted of an account and checkbook from his local branch with 154 pesetas (hardly 1 euro). Next year, he enrolled in a religious art school, where he would study for 5 years. He would alternate his time between study and work. His first job was as an apprentice in a studio for cartoons and advertisements, and in the following years he practiced other professions such as photographer, industrial draftsman, and an assistant to sculptors. His last job was in a toy factory, where he made models, molds and even the packaging designs. This evening work allowed him to paint during the mornings. In 1978 he organized his first exhibition in Barcelona and since them, he has dedicated himself only to painting. The works from these first years were quite abstract, which quickly became figurative, evolving towards a detailed realism, with a hint of the magical, which has become a hallmark of his style.
Arnau Alemany conceives of his work as an effort to confuse the viewer, so as not to leave them indifferent, for better or worse. This work he conceives of as an analytical effort, nearly scientific, calculated, far from any spontaneity or from a subconscious that imposes itself absolutely. With the confidence gained from long years of training as a draftsman, graphic artist, and artistic skills in general, he fights to re-create landscapes that are at the same time real and unreal. Cityscapes that don’t exist, but given a perfect geometry and coherence.
This work of manipulation of perception, allows a certain air of lackadaisical finishing. An observation of the incompleteness of the urban landscape and the vegetation that fights to recover its lost foothold. The unreal space that is the subject of each finished work is inevitably different from that which he imagined initially. In this way, the landscape becomes for Arnau Alemany, as it does for many artists, an inner journey, and a canvas that serves as a concrete memento of that journey.
He has exhibited in Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Lyon, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and many other places. He has not applied to many competitions, but he did win the second prize in the biennale of Montecarlo in 1991. He doesn’t believe that it is right to gift paintings to museums, and so there is only some of his work in the Marugame Hiriai Museum of Contemporary Spanish art in Marugame, Japan.


1972 Galería de Arte Nova, Barcelona, España.
1980 Galería de Arte Fontana D´Or, Girona, España.
Galería de Arte España, Barcelona, España.
1981 Galería de Arte Kandinsky, Madrid, España.
1982 Galería de Arte Contraparada 3, Murcia, España.
1985 Feria de Arte Internacional ARCO 85, Madrid, España.
1987 Galería de Arte Gaudí, Barcelona, España.
1988 Galería de Arte Puchol, Valencia, España.
Feria de Arte Internacional INTERARTE 88, Valencia, España.
1990 Galería de Arte Villanueva, Madrid, España.
1991 La Bienal de Arte de Montecarlo.
1992 Galería de Arte Puchol, Valencia, España.
1993 Galería de Arte Heller, Madrid, España.
1994 Art Miami, Miami, EE.UU.
New York Art Fair, Nueva York, EE.UU.
1995 Art Miami 1995, Miami, EE.UU.
1996 Galería de Arte Portals, Chicago, EE.UU.
1997 Galería de Arte Heller, Madrid, España.
1998 Galería de Arte Portals, Chicago, EE.UU.
1999 Galería de Arte John Cacciola, Nueva York, EE.UU.
2000 ArtExpo, Nueva York, EE.UU.
2001 ArtExpo, Nueva York, EE.UU.
2002 Galería de Arte Halcyon, Londres, Inglatera.
2003 Galería de Arte Puchol, Valencia, España.
2004 Galería de Arte Agora 3, Sitges, España.
Galería de Arte Glass Garage, Los Angeles, EE.UU.
2005 Galería de Arte Christopher Hill, Napa Valley, EE.UU.
Leslie Levy Fine Art, Scottsdale, EE.UU.
2011 The Spirit of Barcelona, Messums, London UK
Individual Exhibitions
1978 Madei Art Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
1980 Joan de Serrallonga Art Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
1982 Kandisnky Art Gallery, Madrid, Spain
1983 Gaudí Art Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
1985 Arco´85; Madrid, Spain; Paulus Art Gallery, Albstadt, Germany
1987 Heller Art Gallery, Madrid, Spain
1988 Puchol Art Gallery, Valencia, Spain; Interart’88, Valencia, Spain
1991 Alain Daune Art Gallery, Paris, France; Bienal of Montecarlo
1993 Gaudí Art Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
1994 Art Miami´94, Miami, USA; New York Art Fair, NY, USA
1995 Heller Art Gallery, Madrid, Spain; Art Miami´94, Miami, USA
1996 Salon Comparaisons, Paris, France; Salon de la Mairie, Angel, France.
1997 Callerie du Vieux Lyon, Lyon, France; Artexpo`97, Barcelona, Spain; Interart´97, Valencia, Spain; Mann Art Gallery, Paris, France
1998 Artexpo`98, Barcelona, Spain; Interart´98, Valencia, Spain; Intenational Art Fair Marbella, Marbella, Spain
1999 Art Fair Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain ; Artexpo`99, Barcelona, Spain; Galery John Cacciola, New York, USA; Interart´99, Valencia, Spain;
2000 ; Art Fair Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain ; Artexpo`00, Barcelona, Spain
2001 Puchol Art Gallery, Valencia, Spain
2003 Glass Garage Art Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2003 Art of Living, Halcyon Art Gallery – Harrods, London, England
2005 Agora 3 Art Gallery, Sitges, Spain
2005 Michelle Boulet Art Gallery, Paris, France
2006 ARTwindow, Grupo Agora 3
2008 Galería de Arte Michelle Boulet, Paris, Francia
2011 Sala Parés, Barcelona
2013 Sala Parés, Barcelona less