Presentation: “Abstracción and Luz” by William J.R. Curtis

On 4 November 7:30 p.m. Ivorypress invited you to the presentation of William J.R. Curtis´ latest title “Abstraction and Light”, published to accompany his solo exhibition at the Alhambra in Granada. Emilio Tuñón (Architect), Juan Domingo Santos (Architect and exhibition designer) and Carmen Moreno Álvarez (Architect and catalogue designer) are going to participate in the panel discussion.

Considered to be one of the leading architectural historians of our time, William Curtis is also a painter and photographer with an international reputation. He has confessed that his exhibition and its accompanying book have allowed him to approach the Nasrid monumental ensemble from different points of view. In addition to displaying paintings, drawings and photographs of a lyrical character, the exhibition explores a way of seeing architecture and landscape with particular emphasis upon light, shadow, water and space.

The catalogue “Abstraction and Light” is an extensive bilingual (Spanish/English) book, published by the Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife in collaboration with TF Editores; Jorge Sainz has translated the English texts to Spanish and Carmen Moreno Alvarez has carefully designed the edition. It includes rich montages of images, a foreword by Maria del Mar Villafranca Jiménez, an introduction by Alvaro Siza Vieira, various seminal texts on abstraction, on photography and on the Alhambra by William J.R. Curtis, a post-script by Juan Domingo Santos and several critical reflections on the work of the artist by diverse authors (Juan Navarro Baldeweg, Eduard F. Sekler, Andrej Hrausky, Andrew Mead, Olivier Namias and Juhani Pallasmaa). Curtis’s works in all media evoke the visible and invisible forces of nature by means of abstraction. Beyond representation he seeks the underlying order of things.

Curtis is the author of several works that are considered to be ‘classics’ such as Modern Architecture Since 1900 and Le Corbusier: Ideas and Forms (Presentation at Ivorypress, 25/06/2015) and has long been interested in the architecture of Islamic societies. In the exhibition Abstraction and Light (installation design by Juan Domingo Santos) the aim has been to respond to the historic setting subtly through geometry, axes and sequential views.

Curtis’s works in all media evoke the visible and invisible forces of nature by means of abstraction. Beyond representation he seeks the underlying order of things. Curtis states: ‘My abstract paintings and drawings, which I call ‘mental landscapes’, suggest many phenomena – the sea, clouds, rock strata, the forest – and yet they cannot be pinned down to any particular subject. They remain ambiguous. There is a strong emphasis on materials, yet the aim is to explore the immaterial. A work of art may suggest the layers, levels, traces and atmospheres of landscape while evoking some invisible spirit. In turn it may touch hidden recesses of the memory and the imagination.’