CUENCA

"...Rafael Pérez Hernando begins his series of exhibitions dedicated to an unlikely new group from Cuenca, with this sample of works by Miguel Ángel Barba. Pessimistically, one might think that both are wrong (and me too, of course)…” Javier Rubio Nomblot, exerpt from the catalogue. M.A. Barba, February 2005 Even so, I return to Cuenca. There I had waiting for me Gonzalo Rodriguez Cao, an important protagonist in this story, and the one-time teacher of Ángel Barba Díaz Santos, Pablo Valle Fraile and "Juanmi" (Juan Miguel Redondo Noblejas). These four painters, although they do what they do very differently, I think have something in common: “They do what they want, or at least try to do what they want,” Gonzalo tells me. At the moment all four painters have removed themselves far from the madding crowd, with the exception of G. Cao who teaches at the University of Cuenca. One thing I particularly like about them all is that they are real and visceral. Each one has a craving for using Colour (with a capital c). Irony is also an important element in their work, and some of them, especially Juanmi, Nonsense is a key aspect in his compositions: "Thank you, thank you, thank you to universal chaos for having done such great work!" (Juanmi, SMS, 20.1.2006). Rafael Pérez Hernando. 2008