ANDREU ALFARO
Valencia, 1929- Valencia 2012

Before devoting himself to sculpture he practised drawing assiduously, self-taught, and presented his work in his first solo exhibition (Sala Mateu, Valencia, 1956). In 1958, after a journey to Brussels, he produced abstract gouache paintings and sculptures in wire and tin. That year he also joined the Group Parpalló and met Oteiza. In 1960 he turned from the possibilities of the line to an exploration of cut and curved sheets of metal. In 1961 he exhibited in Madrid (Sala Darro). In 1964 he began to use industrial metal rods, playing with relationships between essential forms. In 1966, in addition to metal sculptures, he also began making sculptures in wood, which were close to his drawings. His work was exhibited in 1965 at the Sala Gaspar (Barcelona), in 1966 at the Biennale di Venezia, and in 1967 at the National Library. In 1971 he made his first Generatrius (Generants), using industrial techniques and materials to make three-dimensional curved forms arranged on an axis, which were often set in public places. In 1974 he gave up his other work and devoted himself exclusively to sculpture. In the seventies he presented his work at Juana de Aizpuru (1971), Gaspar (1973, 1977, 1981), the Biennale di Venezia (1976), and the Palacio de Velázquez (retrospective in 1979). In the early eighties his work opened up to the historical tradition of sculpture, although maintaining its technical procedures (sheets, rods) and its reductive method. From 1974 onwards he frequently exhibited in Germany, and these exhibitions increased in the eighties (Galerie Dreiseitel in Cologne). In 1981 he was awarded the National Visual Arts Prize. The series in the eighties that reflected on the baroque and the scenic dimension –Homenatge als manieristes (Tribute to the Mannerists), 1980; Diàleg amb el Barroc (Dialogue with the Baroque), 1984- were accompanied by others, such as El cos humà (The Human Body), 1985, which he presented for the first time jointly at Theo and Gaspar, De la vida i la mort, la memòria (Of Life and Death, The Memory), 1989, Gamarra y Garrigues, and various works devoted to Goethe and his world from 1990 onwards. In recent decades his work has included explicit figurative allusions, the use of stone, and an intensification of his drawing activity. In 1991 there was a retrospective at the IVAM, and in 1995, together with Arroyo, he was selected to take part in the Biennale di Venezia. In his most recent work he has incorporated landscape with his vision of the Alps. He died on December 13, 2012 in Valencia.