Venue
Reading Museum
Location

“Homages and other things” is an excitingly eclectic exhibition of painting and three-dimensional work by the Spanish artist Lorenzo Belenguer

“Homages” assembles rusted iron, drops of oil paint, coloured light bulbs and pieces of cloth and wood to represent and comment on paintings by Mondrian and Pollock, and inspired by the performance work of Joseph Beuys. “Other things” are abstract and figurative paintings, oil on panels, continuing Belenguer’s exploration of the boundaries of the painting medium.

Belenguer is fascinated by every day objects, and recycling them in his work. He likes to explore the relationship between these objects and “feelings, human relations… that which exists and we do not see.” His creative process cannot be forced or hurried. He has been known to leave potential material for his three-dimensional work rusting in his back garden for over a year.

His works are always evocative and will leave you with a timeless feeling that makes you come back for more. He has got a special gift to make daily objects special and unique. He is able to break the routine, to see them in a different perspective and at the same time to see life in a different way. This is a constant theme in all his works regardless of media.

“My method of creation,” he says, “is a constant investigation, an observation in which the creative process explodes. It is an adventure with a specific beginning, but no stipulated end. I continue to persevere until the concept takes form. I find or create objects, and later assemble them. They become transformed into a new entity – and I see exciting and experimental vistas unfolding.”

Lorenzo Belenguer was born in Valencia, on Spain’s Mediterranean coast, in 1970. After obtaining a degree in Economics at the local University in 1993, he decided he wanted to take his life in a different conceptual and geographic direction. He travelled to Paris and London, before settling in Reading, “by accident”. Here his career as an artist has taken shape, mounting and participating in exhibitions in spaces not primarily designed for them – like shops, or the turbine hall, where this exhibition is being held.

Andrew Goodman is a freelance writer based in London. Lorenzo Belenguer is a visual artist and curator based in Reading.


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