CRISTÓBAL GABARRÓN

Cristóbal Gabarrón, born in 1945, Mula (Murcia), Spain, received his first training in Valladolid before pursuing his early artistic career in France and Italy. His current works are carried out primarily in Spain and the United States.

Far from the aesthetic conventionalisms, of isthmuses or vanguards, Gabarrón’s work only understands life. His vision of art is clearly anthropocentric. The individual human life, and the coexistence and the development of human values, are the pillars on which his art and his personal convictions rest.

The Olympic Mural for the Barcelona Olympic Games and the “Encounter Mural” for the Universal Exhibition of Seville (1992), the great sculptural project “Atlanta Star” (1996), the materialization of the work “Hope for Peace” (1986) and the Official Poster for the Millennium Summit and the Millennium Chapel (2000-2001) are important milestones in his career, while beginning a fruitful creative period, which still remains today, marked by his collaboration with international organizations, such as the IOC and United Nations.

This same public sculpture, which was declared loyal supporter, has been prominent with the turn of the century and the completion of these series of sculptures: “Quixote’s Tribute” (2005), “The Mysteries of Columbus” (2006) and more recently “Alhambra Towers” (2008), a tribute to the peaceful coexistence of cultures, Jewish, Arab and Christian. All of them have been exhibited in the most central streets and plazas of many European and American cities, such as Miami, New York, Madrid, Gdanks, Lisbon, Saint Paul de Vence, Valladolid, Murcia, Coruña, Santiago de Compostela and Valencia. Similarly towns have permanently incorporated in their streets large public outdoor sculptures handcrafted such as, “Valladolid Gates“, “Color Borough”, “Human Spirit”, “Tecnus”, “Frouida”, “Sky Dome”, “Mullae”, “Tribute to Philip II” and “Metamorphosis”.

The aforementioned works have been taken from the last decade in order to investigate the use of fiberglass and metal, in relation to his new creations, thus his most recent painting series “Circular” (2009), “Inner Landscapes” (2009) and “Rectangular” (2010), show a personal and mature inner world reflected on the rugged and insinuating visual surfaces of the support. This same material also lives on a steep but smooth rupture with the steel, combining coolness and life, as evidenced by the recent sculptural series “Impaled” (2010).

In the last few years he has also maintained his traditional connection with other artistic disciplines, as evidenced by the recent creation of two sets, one for the show "New Dawn" by flamenco singer José Mercé and the second one for the ¡Noche Latina! performance by Edwaard Liang (Washington Ballet), precisely in the same city where the American University Museum, at the Katzen Arts Center, has presented some of his most recent works.

His paintings and sculptures have been equally analyzed within Retrospectives such as those dedicated by the Chelsea Art Museum, the IVAM – Valencia Institute of Modern Art, the Museum of Modern Art of Gdanks in Poland and the Niemeyer Center. In all of them, critics and historians of the stature of Donald Kuspit, curator and professor at New York University, Kosme de Barañano, Professor of Fine Arts of the University, Miguel Hernández, and Julián Zugazagoitia, Director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art at Kansas City, have proceeded to provide careful analysis and study of his career, abundantly laid out in published literature in recent years.

Since 1992 Gabarrón has been responsible for the gradual establishment of three foundations, in Valladolid, New York and Murcia, where his principal desire is to give back to society through the implementation of artistic and cultural activities, creating awareness through the arts. (www.gabarron.org).