Cristóbal Gabarrón, “Antagonía Matérica”
From the 25th April until the 29th of September2013.
Curated by Julio César García and Natalia Grau.

Cartagena Regional Modern Art Museum (MURAM) and Cartagena Roman Theatre Museum are jointly displaying the exhibition “Material Contrast”, by the artist Cristóbal Gabarrón. A selection of pieces of work that centre around the dialectics between material and shape which will be displayed from the 25th of April until the 29th of September 2013. The opening will take place on the 25th April 2013 at 8.00pm.

The group of paintings and sculptures laid out in the different rooms illustrate Cristóbal Gabarrón’s constant experimenting with materials and forms. Theartist uses materials such as clay, fibreglass or iron in his sculptures, which he mixes together; those that he makes co exist in harmony in the room: clay,used by man since distant times, iron, the basic support and the “soul” of his pieces of work, and fibreglass, a contemporary material co-exist in the same space, creating a gradual and evolutionary journey.

In the same way, alternation is also present in his pictorial works, where shape, landscape and texture fuse together to the point where they result in chromatic abstraction. Gabarrón’s works are characterised by the visibly anthropocentric character that they have in order to demonstrate his personal beliefs and experiences. Pieces of work that maintain a constant dialogue with the spectator and in which different worlds interrelate by means of the shape-abstraction, material-pigment duality.

The series “Interior Landscape”, “My Demons” or “The Impaled Ones” are a clear example of the expression, artistic force and the combination of painting and sculpture in distinct formats, dimensions and surfaces that can be admired in this exhibition.

Cristóbal Gabarrón was born in 1945 in Mula (Murcia) but grew up in Valladolid.  At the age of eighteen his numerous trips to France, Italy and the USA began. He moved to the latter in the eighties. He has had numerous collective and individual exhibitions which have traveled allover the world and has been entrusted with important tasks, as well as collaborating with international organisations such as the IOC or the UN. His work and career path have been analysed by critics and historians as renowned as Kosme de Barañano, professor of Fine Arts at the Miguel Hernández University,Donald Kuspit, commissioner and professor at the University of New York, or Julián Zugazagoitia, director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art at Kansas City.

The Modern Regional Art Museum (MURAM), located in the city of Cartagena (Murcia, Spain) is an old building renovated by the architect Martín Lejarraga. Since its opening it has become established as a dynamic centre of art that reflects the contemporary creation of the moment from the Mediterranean art scene.

Cartagena Roman Theatre Museum, renovated by the ingenious Rafael Moneo, incorporates in its distinct rooms, remains and objects found in the different excavation and restoration campaigns of the Roman Theatre, whilst dedicating an area to exhibiting contemporary art, which acts as a counterpoint to the artistic, historical legacy.

The Murcia Casa Pintada Foundation is a cultural project that arose and became established thanks to the collaboration of the Cristóbal Gabarrón Foundation and the Mula Council. It offers a broad tour of the career path of the artist Cristóbal Gabarrón, whilst at the same time acting as a permanent reflection of new creativity in Murcia, by means of its temporary exhibition rooms, which focus on promoting new creators, mainly from the Mediterranean area.