34 ILLUSTRIOUS FIGURES BY 34 ILLUSTRATED

Description

34 ILLUSTRIOUS FIGURES BY 34 ILLUSTRATED FIGURES
Sculpture

Dates: July 9 to September 13, 2026

Artists: Adrián Bago, Soledad Bardají, Mik Baro, Jordi Bayarri, Sergio Bleda, Canya, Fedde Carroza, Nacho Casanova, Julia Cejas, Rosa Deltoro, Cristina Durán, Carla Fuentes, Iván García Aguado, Manel Gimeno, Esteban Hernández, María Herreros, Mai Hidalgo, Ladislao Kubala, Javier Lacasta Llácer, Leviathan, Sergio Meliá, César Moragues, Amélia Navarro, Beatriz Quesada, Paco Ramos, Don Rogelio J., Josep Rural, Raúl Salazar, César Sebastián, Karme Soriano, Marta Torres, Txemacantropus, Max Vento, and Luis Armand Villalba

Venue: Centre del Carme. Buttresses Room

Organized by: Consortium of Museums of the Valencian Community

Produced by: Consortium of Museums of the Valencian Community

Curator: Catalina Martín

The exhibition ’34 Illustrious Figures x 34 Illustrated Figures’ pays tribute to contemporary Valencian sculptors through a project that recovers and recognizes key figures in sculpture from the late 19th century to the present day. Through the eyes of contemporary illustrators, who reinterpret the sculptors based on their own sensibilities and personal graphic styles, the exhibition revisits creators who actively participated in the evolution of sculptural language, maintaining a balance between the tradition of the craft and an openness to new ways of understanding space, matter, and form.

The exhibition reflects the tension inherent in the 20th century between the persistence of academic models—centered on figuration, religious imagery, and public monuments—and the progressive incorporation of modern languages ​​that transformed the notion of volume and its relationship to the environment. The artists gathered here present diverse responses to modernity: from the continuity of classical and Mediterranean traditions to the exploration of abstraction, formal synthesis, and the structural dimension of sculpture.

Many of these artists' careers share ties with the San Carlos School of Fine Arts, as well as with artisan workshops and residencies in European centers such as Rome and Paris. Furthermore, historical events like the Spanish Civil War and the post-war period profoundly influenced their development.

The exhibition allows us to understand the evolution toward a more experimental sculpture, where emptiness, materials, and the viewer's perception take center stage, establishing a contemporary dialogue between illustration and sculpture that revitalizes their legacy.