Always from a subtle interpretation of the Baroque, linked to its general foundations -already clearly prefigured in the Hellenist period-, this exhibition includes works that reissue that vibrant lust of the flesh. Yet in the Baroque, that disorganised appetite did not only result in the carnal opulence of goddesses and nymphs, but also in large bloody chunks of meat from animals and semi-human beasts, and in the disturbing suggestiveness contained in images like the beheading of Holophernes performed by Judith. Thus, Enrique Marty's shocking oil painting, from the series Niño (Child), presents a bloody demon surrounded by a sickly-sweet golden frame, and Berlinde de Bruyckere's sinister Hanne (2003) embodies a sort of late medieval Mary Magdalene with the body of a beheaded Baroque Medusa. Also by De Bruyckere, the horrific horse Eén (2002-04), a sculpture made of wax and horse skin resembling a stuffed creature, is reminiscent, once again, of an infernal, apocalyptic, and maliciously sensual vision, which also echoes Gothic sensuality and the affectation of Baroque sculpture.
Sharing in the counter-reformist alarmism that could inspire sombre visions like those created by De Bruyckere in the Baroque artists, Jake & Dinos Chapman present the macabre spectacle of seven enormous skulls named after Walt Disney's dwarves from Snow White . The enormous skinned heads display elements ranging from complex texts to large diabolic horns and a bloody swastika.
The work Mutaciones vi (Mutations vi , 2004), by Javier Pérez, takes a different stance towards the carnal issue: it is like an enormous and euphuistic nickel-plated tongue resting on two pompous round mirrors. Also following this euphuistic and sensual trend, where rhythm and colour are essential, Julian Rosefeldt's video-installation Asylum (2001-02) composes an exquisite iconographic cycle distributed on nine enormous screens placed in a large dark room. Rosefeldt treats the delicate topic of immigration implementing visual perfection and conceptual subtlety, with a touch of underlying lyricism, showing different marginalised ethnic groups -gypsies, blacks, Muslims, Eastern prostitutes, etc.- in symbolical environments that have been astutely staged.
If once the complexation of Hellenist, Romanesque and Baroque forms was considered a symbol of decadence, currently, object-visual details and the distortion of contemporary art's discourse are seen as a plausible sophistication of avant-garde trends, whose different heritage intersects in the promiscuous paradise of current artistic production. There are hardly any technical, conceptual, discursive or moral limits for the versatile contemporary artist. At least the selection of works on show in Barrocos y Neobarrocos ... allows us to find pleasure in this delirium.
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