JUANA GONZÁLEZ
Puertollano, Spain. 1972
Biography
Juana González (Puertollano, Ciudad Real, 1972) has a degree in Fine Arts from theComplutense University of Madrid. Her work by her has been shown in different national and international spaces such as the Sala Robayera (Cantabria), the Museum of the City of Móstoles, the Museum of the University of Alicante or the Musée des Beaux-Arts de La Chaux-de- Funds in Switzerland. It has been recognized with the honorable mention of the ABC Awards of Painting and Photography (2003), the Contemporary Art Meetings of the Alicante Institute of Culture Juan Gil-Albert (2012), The Franked Circuit of the Casa Franca de Madrid (2015) or the VIII Meeting of New Artists of Santiago de Compostela (2018).
.Juana González’s work is developed in the disciplines of painting and drawing.The imposing-size paintings feature characters involved in mysterious tasks in a complex and original set. Her style is part of the expressionism, surrealism and narrative figuration.
Statement
I would like my art not to require too much in the way of explanations in order to work, and these two ideological references let me develop this idea. A work of art for me is an autonomous entity that transmits or communicates emotions, information, knowledge, etc. I have nothing against a discourse added a posteriori, but the artistic goal should work by itself in the first encounter with the viewer.
I don’t think that all art should be understood. My own posture with art, both in creating it and contemplating it, does not involve any mental attitudes that search for the documentary, informative, logical or investigative. Precisely what interests me is what cannot or does not need to be explained or understood as a whole. I find this very attractive because it gives rise to curiosity and questions with no clear answers in whoever is contemplating it and does not exclude people from a reflective process.
I always try to keep the mystery and create states of confusion and uncertainty. These sensations are very real to me, because life constantly places you in states of uncertainty. Of course, my taste for the dark, grotesque and harsh means I find a certain pleasure in these states of confusion and uncertainty that I try to create. My paintings are stagings of a somewhat Baroque composition, scenarios in which the characters are involved in a story. There is a narrative, but it is incomplete. They are fragments of a story in which I don’t know exactly what is happening, and I don’t want to know either. I wish to remain in that state of confusion and bewilderment that contemplating a mysterious scene leaves you in. But it shouldn’t be absolutely meaningless, that’s not what I am interested in. I think that there are sufficient elements to construct possible narrations, depending on the way everyone looks at it. The viewer thus takes part in the game of trying to read, understand and uncover the meaning.
CV
1972 / Puertollano (Ciudad Real)
Degree in fine arts. Complutense University of Madrid. 2005
AWARDS
2018
-Artist selected at the VIII Encuentro Artistas Novos 2018 at the Cidade Da Cultura / Santiago de Compostela.
2015
-“Call for exhibition spaces” Museum of the City of Móstoles / Department of Culture / Ayto Móstoles.
2014
-Franked Circuit of the Casa Franca / Madrid.
2012
-Meetings of Contemporary Art (EAC) / Alicante Institute of Culture Juan Gil-Albert.
2003
-Honorable Mention ABC Awards for Painting and Photography.
EXHIBITIONS
2022
-Collective exhibition / Galerie Tournemire / Paris (France).
-JustMad Art Fair / Trinta Gallery / Madrid.
-Drawing Room Art Fair / Siboney Gallery/ Madrid.
-Art Madrid Art Fair / Arena Martínez Projects / Madrid.
-Tribute to Frida / Fight of Giants / House of Mexico / Madrid.
-XV La Rural Plastic Arts Prize / Caja Rural Jaén Foundation / itinerant.
-Individual Exhibition / Siboney Gallery / Santander.
-2nd edition of La Iberoamericana de Toro / Church of San Agustín / Toro (Zamora).
-Solo Project / Santander Art Fair / Santander.
2021
-Estampa Fair / Arena Martínez Projects / Madrid.
-Individual Show / Sala Robayera / Miengo (Cantabria) / catalog.
2020
-Juana González & Silvia Lermo. Wilde Erzählungen / Galerie 100 Kubik / Cologne (Germany).
-Collective exhibition Encuentros en la Tercera Fase / Corner Gallery & Studio / Madrid.
-Collective exhibition The Boys in the Band / Art and Development Factory / Madrid.
-Individual Show / Sala Maruja Mallo / Las Rozas (Madrid) / (postponed due to Covid-19).
-Collective exhibition Rearguard Hall / Art and Development Factory / Madrid.
2019
-Collective Exp. Cabinet of Resistance II / Madrid.
-Art Banchel Festival / Madrid.
-Collective Exhibition “A Violet Door”/ Carmen Jiménez Center (La Zubia). Organized by the University of Granada and the Zubia City Council. (Catalogue)
2018
-Collective Exhibition / LA_Projects / Madrid.
-Art Banchel Festival / Madrid.
2017
-Open studio conference “The Artists of the Neighborhood” / Madrid.
2016
-77 Valdepeñas International Plastic Arts Show / “La Confianza” Center / Valdepeñas (catalogue) / *Acquired work – private collection.
-Collective Exhibition “Look at me” / Casa Las Sirenas Center / Seville.
2015
-Individual Exhibition «Constructor companies» and «Stand by» Museum of the City of Móstoles
2014
-Postage Stamps / Alicia Room Mate Hotel / Madrid.
2012
-Exp. EAC at the MUA (Museum of the University of Alicante) / Alicante (catalogue).
2011
-LXII City of Puertollano Art Hall / Municipal Museum of Puertollano (catalogue).
2009
-Collective Exp. “Together but not mixed up” House of Culture of Azuqueca de Henares / Madrid.
2005
-Collective Exhibition “Serendia”. Eklectic Gallery / Madrid.
2004
-Collective Exp. Faculty BB.AA / Madrid. (Catalogue).
-ARCO 04 – ABC / Madrid. (Black and White, Cultural ABC / 02-2004).
2002
-LIII City of Puertollano Art Hall / Municipal Museum of Puertollano. (Catalogue).
1997
-Collective Exhibition “Corps-à-corps” Museum of Chauds de Fonds / Switzerland. (Catalogue).
Publications
2021
-Press El Diario Montañés 7-18-2021 and 7-31-2021.
2020
-Magazin Galerie 100 Kubik / 12-2020 https://galerie100kubik.smoolis.com/screen/page/9dac0bbd-c66d-407f-90ac-451405f5a37a.
-Arten Magazine / nº 162.
2019
-Collection (book) Current Art #16 “Dreams and Nonsense” Juana González/ Editorial Fueradcarta / Madrid.
-Manifesto Juana González / Editorial NOCAPAPER BOOKS & MORE SL / ISBN: 978-84-949859-3-5