12/06/2013 17' 57''
Catalan

Since the early seventies, Eulàlia Grau has recontextualised media images, creating unexpected contrasts through which she invites us to reflect on the incongruities of our society. These practices can be linked to European critical Pop Art, or, as Bartomeu Marí has pointed out, 'to the political photomontage of the Berlin Dadaists in the twenties (John Heartfield, George Grosz and Raoul Hausmann).'

Eulàlia Grau is also often associated with the Catalan conceptual art of the seventies, in which there was a strong presence of women. Eugènia Balcells, Esther Ferrer, Fina Miralles and Àngels Ribé are some of the artists from the same generation who share similar interests with Eulàlia. While they did not form a homogeneous group, all of them fought to overcome dominant patriarchal stereotypes and, through their feminist ideas, contributed to broadening the existing systems of representation and ways of understanding art. Eulàlia Grau does not feel comfortable being labelled ‘conceptual’ because she doesn’t see her art as being ephemeral or structured around any theory.

Eulàlia uses a straightforward language that is expressed in the form of collages, screen prints, murals, posters, books and magazine inserts, through which she seeks to connect with audiences beyond the strictly artistic sphere. As such, her work becomes a radical means of observing reality; an uncomfortable testimony of the society of her time. Issues that were already present in her works in the seventies and eighties, such as class and gender differences, the bias of justice and the media, labour exploitation, corruption, and repression, are still distressingly relevant four decades later.

Eulàlia Grau has spent long periods in Milan, Berlin, Japan and China. Her work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions. "I Have Never Painted Golden Angels" (MACBA, 2013) is the first monographic exhibition of her oeuvre.

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FONS AUDIO #20. Sandra Balsells
FONS AUDIO #18. Erick Beltrán
FONS AUDIO #17. Judith Barry
FONS AUDIO #16. Perejaume
FONS AUDIO #15. Ignasi Aballí
FONS AUDIO #14. Josep Maria Mestres Quadreny

SpecialsFONS ÀUDIOEulàlia GrauCreative CommonsMACBA Collection #ColMacba31#8M

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