FERRAN GARCÍA SEVILLA
Palma de Mallorca, (Spain) 1949 
He studied art history in Barcelona during the early seventies. At the same time he joined the active Conceptual Art groups there, and with them he embarked on artistic activity that had its ideological basis in post-structuralism and materialised in installations and performances, in which he took part with various groups throughout the decade. His first solo exhibitions, in his native city, took place in 1970. In 1972 he had his first exhibition in Barcelona, at the gallery of “la Caixa”, while his first exhibition outside the Barcelona circle was presented in 1978, at the Galeria Temps in Valencia.
In the early eighties he adopted painting as his medium of expression. With great ambivalence, he developed a poetics of fragments with a powerful ironical element, taking language as its main focus. Religions, mysticism and culture in general were already present in his early paintings and became a constant feature in his work, to convey other reflections in his pictures, such as death, violence or sex. In 1981 he was included in 26 pintores, 13 críticos at the Madrid premises of “la Caixa”, and he also held his first solo exhibition in Madrid, at the Galería Central. Series such as Imperi (1983), Tata, Cora (both of 1984), Pariso (1985), etc., enabled him to present his work in Spain and other parts of Europe (Zürich, 1982; Vienna, Amsterdam and Naples, 1984; Galerie Yvon Lambert in Paris, 1985; the group exhibition 5 Spanish Artists at Artists Space in New York, 1985). In 1986 he was included in the Biennale di Venezia.
After two major exhibitions, at the Palacio de Velázquez in Madrid and the Centre d’Art de Santa Mònica in Barcelona, in 1990 he showed his series Sama in his first solo exhibition in New York, at the Lelong Gallery. During the early nineties he continued with his aesthetic proposals in series such as Loro (1991), Sino (1992) or Fecha (1992-94). With Xa (1995) he showed an interest in strictly pictorial language, the central theme in subsequent series such as Rupa or Targa, both of 1996, and especially Tepe, 1997. Although he has exhibited regularly, particular mention should be made of the exhibitions held at the Palacio de Sástago in Saragossa (1995), the presentation of the series Déus (Gods) at the Museu d’Art Contemporani in Barcelona (1996), the exhibition Xa, Tiro, Rupa y Arto at the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró in Palma and the retrospective held at the IVAM in 1998.