Per la cara!

The current exhibition at the Fundació Suñol is entitled Portrait as it aims to be a tribute to and a loyeal representation of Fernando Vijande, the gallery owner from Madrid that during  the 70s and 80s was a sponsor and supporter of contemporary art. But at the same time, this show includes a lot of portraits of both Fernando Vijande and other people. This variety of examples allow us to analyze how a portrait can be made from the technique, but also from the idea or concept that the artist wanted to capture in his or her work.

Under this premise, the Fundació Suñol presents a Christmas workshop aimed at families with children 6 to 12 years old to rethink the use of portrait on contemporary art. For that, we will set off from Andy Warhol’s polaroid portraits that he made during his career. This daily exercise and recording of his environment could be understood as an Instagram of that time, due to the immediacy of the medium used (instant photography), but also with the aim of showing the people around him. The same thing we do now with our phones!

We will too analyze works from other artists like Claudio Bravo, Karl Horst Hödicke, Robert Mapplethorpe or Alberto García-Alix, while visiting the exhibition. We will then take action to create a portrait with both photographic and drawing techniques, to go in depth on the artist’s capacity to capture the feelings and sensations of one’s own and others. But at the same time we will talk about how we sometimes play a role in front of the camera or the artist, as if we were actors and actresses! We will create a character from facial and body expressions, as well as elements and attributes that complete our costume. Will we get our partners to recognize the character?