Lesió, the Catalan title of Pere Llobera’s solo exhibition, in BRADWOLFF PROJECTS means “injury” or “being injured” in Dutch. Llobera exhibits a sense of weltschmerz (a deep, heavy longing) in his narrative paintings and installation. The artist effortlessly mixes his personal associations and memories with universal feelings. He expands his distinctive conceptual position on the possibilities of painting. Without a logical structure, personal associations are forged together. Themes in his work refer to his family, his music heroes, his youth, art history or its role, position or function as an artist in the world around him.
His latest installation of two map houses, centrally presented in the project space, can be read as a metaphor for the imperfection of existence. On the one hand, it refers to a temporary structure that will collapse quickly. On the other hand, the presence of playing cards suggests some form of cheating or illusionism. Llobera is a virtuoso painter as witnessed by the loose painterly touch, the alternation of strongly diluted oil paint with thick pasty strokes, the color palette and the dramatic expression. The artist is part of a long Spanish painting tradition. At the same time, the work implies a modern free-spirited reflectivity. Llobera continues to surprise: draws on his inspiration from many sources and remains authentic and elusive.
Pere Llobera (Barcelona, 1970) has a classical painting education in Barcelona. In 2007 he was an artist in residence at the Rijksakademie of visual arts in Amsterdam. He exhibited internationally in ao Galeria Fúcares Madrid (ES); Gallery Hidde van Seggelen (UK); Dordrechts Museum, (NL); Maribel Lopez Gallery (DE); Thessaloniki Biennial for Contemporary Art (GR) and is represented in the Netherlands by Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam.
Rimme Rypkema has written an essay especially for the exhibition Lesió.