Moscoso Cosmos / Manuel Colmeiro: Colour and Feeling

Moscoso Cosmos: The Visual Universe of Victor Moscoso
Curator: David Carballal

Moscoso Cosmos: The Visual Universe of Victor Moscoso brings to our country a large selection of the work of one of the most original and influential graphic designers of the 20th century. This is his biggest retrospective exhibition so far. The show brings together the renowned series of psychedelic rock posters that he created over eight months in 1966 and 1967, and 14 issues of the underground magazine Zap Comix, which was published over 40 years and featured artists such as Robert Crumb or Rick Griffin; it also includes a selection of posters, album covers, comics, illustrations for books and magazines, animations, and biographical photographs, which complete a journey marked by iconic pictures of the second half of the 20th century.

Alongside Victor Moscoso’s original pieces of graphic art—a large part of which comes from the City of A Coruña’s own collection, Europe’s biggest public collection of works by the artist—the exhibition also showcases his animations, his sensational kinetic posters, and other items that help to understand the artist’s unique contributions and work methodology.

A book is being published to mark the exhibition and Victor Moscoso himself serves as its art director. It features an introduction by New York critic Steven Heller and a biographical essay by David Carballal, who curated the exhibition and wrote the piece after numerous chats with the artist. This is the most extensive monograph published so far on Victor Moscoso. There are some 200 pictures in the book, including catalogued pieces, documents, and biographical photographs.

Moscoso Cosmos: The Visual Universe of Victor Moscoso is a co-production by the Luis Seoane Foundation in A Coruña,  MUSAC in León, and the Niemeyer Center in Avilés, with the collaboration of Acción Cultural Española (AC/E).

Manuel Colmeiro: Colour and Feeling - Meeting Points: Luis Seoane & Colmeiro
Curator: Mónica Alonso

Manuel Colmeiro (Silleda, 1901–Salvaterra do Miño, 1999) is, with Luis Seoane (Buenos Aires, 1910–A Coruña, 1979), one of the innovators of Galician and Spanish art. He shares with Seoane his engagement in social, cultural and political matters; and the fact that his career as an artist took place overseas. Migrating to Argentina and settling in Paris from 1948 outline the geographic context of his work, as he did not return to Galicia permanently until 1986.

For artist and expert on colour analysis Mónica Alonso, who curated the exhibition, the starting point was how Colmeiro used colour in his pieces. This differs from all other perspectives that have come before, which focused more on showing his work in relation to their themes: the landscape, farming and fishing, agricultural tasks performed by women… Such imagery originated from his childhood and led to the birth of “Galician Fauvism” that allowed the painter room to fully develop himself as an artist, joining the School of Paris, alongside figures like Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris and Joan Miró.

Over 100 pieces are on display, with a study on the use of colour, which ranges from greens and blues that merge into each other, and vibrant yellows that become pinks, thus creating his own style, in which he balanced primitive realism with the influence of international movements like Expressionism, Cubism and abstract art.

One of the rooms that houses the exhibition centers around his relationship and convergence with Luis Seoane. Both artists shared not only the fact that they were emigrants but also that they both did mural art in Buenos Aires (of great relevance in Seoane’s case), they protested against the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War through their war drawings, and they put a contemporary spin on Galician scenes and customs in their works.