The Galería Valle Orti presents the work of Anzo, one of the most important Valencian artists in the second half of the twentieth century and the representative for Spain at the Biennials of Venice (1968) and Sao Paulo (1969). His work is featured in the collections of such outstanding museums as the Museum Of Modern Art in New York, the Kunstmuseum in Basel and the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris.After moving through periods of Informalism and Neo-figurative art, this shining representative of Spanish Pop produced the series "Ai... Read more

The Galería Valle Orti presents the work of Anzo, one of the most important Valencian artists in the second half of the twentieth century and the representative for Spain at the Biennials of Venice (1968) and Sao Paulo (1969). His work is featured in the collections of such outstanding museums as the Museum Of Modern Art in New York, the Kunstmuseum in Basel and the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris.After moving through periods of Informalism and Neo-figurative art, this shining representative of Spanish Pop produced the series “Aislamientos” (“Isolations”) with the outright intent of making what might be called an aesthetic of the machine, or of technology.Here, Anzo makes the theme of “isolation” the conceptual center of his work. Isolation is a powerful metaphor for the dehumanization of the individual living within increasingly machine-dominated surroundingsAn allegorical symbol of an isolated character, whose morphing identity is symptomatic of a problematic internal conflict.But far from taking an optimistic or carefree approach to technology or anything extolling technocratic ideology, Anzo’s work creates a space for critical confrontation. It stands back to allow for a fruitful dialogue with so-called “instrumental rationality,” the basic intuition of which is that technology is not simply a means for carrying out human activities, but also a powerful force configuring those activities and their meanings in radically new ways. Thus do the isolation of the individual, the hostility and tension between intimacy and alienation so characteristic of the modern individual, make for an experimental space and a horizon of expectations, out of which to gain further insight within the line of one critical theory of contemporary society.And for the purpose of comparison and analysis, Anzo ingeniously and strategically uses or appropriates the formal technical resources of the time, in addition to using some more suitable plastic elements to represent them. In so doing, Anzo replaced the canvas (oils and acrylics) for anodized aluminum, metal beams, polished or sandblasted stainless steel, nitrocellulose paint, photolithographs, drawings on aluminum with color glaze, etc. And all at the service of forms unique to new media: technological mazes, pipes, connecting formulas, components for machines and technical profiles, turbines, meanders, diagrams, circuits and computer gear. The “Aislamientos” Anzo proposed in the 70s still remains wildly relevant today due to its brilliant poetic approach and its ability to explain the inherent tension between the individual and technology. His rigorous constructive craftsmanship and the syntactic-semantic composition of his work make Anzo a master in alienation, alienation capable of creating a space for not just political, but also anthropological and social reflection.