Ivan Franco

Ourense, Spain, 1979

Untitled - 2024 . Giclée print intervened with colour pencils. 80 x 80 cm. 82 x 82 x 3 cm (framed).

Statue of liberty - 2024 . Graphite and acrylic on paper. 12.5 x 10 cm 58.5 x 41 x 3.5 cm (framed).

Manhattan Bridge - 2024 . Graphite and acrylic on paper. 12.5 x 10 cm 58.5 x 41 x 3.5 cm (framed).

Unfocused (Le) [6] - 2023. Colour pencils on paper. 152 x 122 cm.

Tres xemeneies - 2022. Oil on digital photograph giclée print. 95 × 80 cm.

Unfocused (Le) [1] - 2022. Colour pencils on paper. 49 x 37 cm.

Unfocused (Le) [5] - 2022. Colour pencils on paper. 49 x 37 cm.

Portrait of a girl -2022. Oil on polaroid. 50 x 50 cm.

Red-Haired girl - 2022. Colour pencils on paper 49 x 37 cm.

Unfocused (Mercè) [2] - 2022. Colour pencils on paper. 19.2 x 14.5 inch.

Hand - 2022. Oil on polaroid. 50 x 50 cm.

Portrait of a man - 2022. Oil on polaroid. 50 x 50 cm.

Rose - 2022. Oil on polaroid. 50 x 50 cm.

S/T [2 de 3] - 2022. Colour pencils Luminance 6901 on paper. 50 x 50 cm.

S/T [1 de 3] - 2022. Colour pencils Luminance 6901 on paper. 50 x 50 cm.

Untitled 2 - 2022. Colour pencils on paper. 49 x 37 cm.

One and three polaroids (after Kosuth, One and Three Chairs, 1965) - 2022. Polaroid 600 black and white, graphite on paper. 50 x 50 cm (each framed) 11 x 9 cm.

About

Lives and works in Barcelona, Spain

The image (sign) presented is not focused on representing the real, true, false or imaginary. This image seeks to give greater prominence, if anything, to the meaning from the simulacrum. Matter-picture as object becomes, in this case, an importance that exceeds what is told (sign), as part of the object, subject it to the importance of proper sense, the simulacrum.

It’s no longer to identify the real from what is not, but to use the strategies, the mechanisms of reality to question own existence. The picture presented is not able to be true in another place like a simulacrum. As Baudrillard quoted in “Culture and Simulation” in reference to the simulacrum of divinity: “This is precisely what was feared by Iconoclasts, whose millennial quarrel is still with us today. This is precisely because they predicted this omnipotence of simulacra, the faculty simulacra have of effacing God from the conscience of man, and the destructive, annihilating truth that they allow to appear – that deep down God never existed, that only the simulacrum ever existed, even that God himself was never anything but his own simulacrum” This works refers essentially to a question of contemplation, that explores the need to identify and understand the reality. If the recognition of the simulacrum has made the survival of the reality stagger.

“The simulacrum is never what hides the truth – it is truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true.”

Ecclesiastes

CV

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SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Focal Distance, Arcadia Contemporary, New York, USA (2023)
ONE AND THREE POLAROIDS, Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2022)
H0. Piramidón Centre d’Art Contemporani. Barcelona, Spain (2018)
Contact Sheet, Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2017)
True and False, Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2015)
Ideografías, Portal 48 Gallery, Pontevedra. Spain (2014)
Significantes Simulados, Art Gallery Puerto de la Cruz, Caja Canarias, Puerto de la Cruz, Spain (2009)

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
New Portraits, Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2024)
Sota Un Mateix Cel, Castillo de Benedormiens, Piramidon Centre d’Art Contemporani, Girona, Spain (2023)
Mod-Portrait2020, MEAM, Barcelona, Spain (2021)
Càpsules De Confinament: Art I Pandèmia A Catalunya, Museu Can Framis, Fundació Vila Casas, Barcelona, Spain (2020)
Premi De Fotografia 2020, Museu Palau Solterra, Torroella de Montgrí, Fundació Vila Casas, Girona, Spain (2020)
2020_n1, Piramidón, Centre d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain (2020)
Realismo Español Contemporáneo, Hoki Museum, Chiba, Japan (2019)
20th Anniversary, Galerie Arcturus, Paris, France (2019)
Booth Alb, Galerie ALB, Paris, France (2019)
Mod-Portrait2018, Sala de Exposiciones Edificio Bantierra, Zaragoza / MEAM, Barcelona, Spain (2019)
Modportrait2017, IACC Pablo Serrano, Zaragoza / MEAM, Barcelona, Spain (2018)
2018_n3, Piramidón, Centre d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain (2018)
2017_n3, Piramidón, Centre d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain (2017)
Un Face À Face Espagnol. Miguel Macaya – Iván Franco, Galerie Arcturus, Paris, France (2017)
BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK (2016)
À Dessein, Galerie Binôme, Paris, France (2016)
Realitats, Pigment Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2016)
25 Al Quadrat, Piramidón, Centre d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain (2015)
No Más De 18, Galería Metro, Santiago de Compostela, Spain (2015)
Premio Internacional De Pintura Guasch Coranty, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Tecla Sala, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain (2015)
II Concurso De Retrato Internacional Mod-Portrait, Sala de Exposiciones Bantierra, Zaragoza, Spain (2015)
I Concurso De Retrato Internacional Mod-Portrait, Sala de Exposiciones Bantierra, Zaragoza, Spain (2014)
VIII Premio Auditorio De Galicia Para Novos Artistas, Auditorio de Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, Spain (2014)

ART FAIRS
LA ART SHOW 2024, Arcadia Contemporary, Los Angeles, US (2024)
FIVE AND UNDER, Arcadia Contemporary, New York, US (2023)
SEATTLE ART FAIR, Arcadia Contemporary, Seattle, US (2023)
LA ART SHOW 2023, Arcadia Contemporary, Los Angeles, US (2023)
ZONA MACO, Alzueta Gallery, Ciudad de México, Mexico (2023)
FIVE AND UNDER, Arcadia Contemporary, New York, US (2022)
LA ART SHOW 2022, Arcadia Contemporary, Los Angeles, US (2022)
ART ON PAPER 2021, Arcadia Contemporary, New York, US (2021)
JUSTMAD, Alzueta Gallery, Madrid, Spain (2020)
ARTMIAMI, Alzueta Gallery, Miami, US (2019)
ART PARÍS ART FAIR, Galerie ALB, Paris, France (2017)
ARTMADRID, Alzueta Gallery, Madrid, Spain (2017)
ARTMADRID, Alzueta Gallery, Madrid, Spain (2016)
ART ÉLYSÉES, Alzueta Gallery, Paris, France (2015)
SLICK ART FAIR, Galerie Binôme, Paris, France (2015)

AWARDS
Mod-Portrait 2020, Sala de Exposiciones Bantierra, Zaragoza, Spain (Honorable Mention) (2020)
Mod-Portrait 2018, Sala de Exposiciones Bantierra, Zaragoza, Spain (Honorable Mention) (2018)
Mod-Portrait 2017, Sala de Exposiciones Bantierra, Zaragoza, Spain (Honorable Mention) (2017)
II Concurso de Retrato Internacional Mod-Portrait, Sala de Exposiciones Bantierra, Zaragoza, Spain (Honorable Mention) (2015)
I Concurso de Retrato Internacional Mod-Portrait, Sala de Exposiciones Bantierra, Zaragoza, Spain (Honorable Mention) (2014)
Beca Maria Josepa Giner, Galeria Anquin’s, Reus (2012)
XI Premio de Fotografía Area de Artes Plásticas Universidad de Murcia, Universidad de Murcia, Spain (First Honorable Mention) (2011)
Becas Roberto Villagraz, Escuela de fotografía EFTI, Madrid, Spain (Finalist)
XXVII Certamen de Pintura Concello de Cambre, Biblioteca Municipal de Cambre, A Coruña, Spain (Accésit) (2010)
III Certamen de Pintura y Esculturas Figurativas, Barcelona, Spain (Acquisition Award) (2008)
VII Premio Regional de Fotografía Cajas de Ahorros de Canarias, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain (First Prize) (2008)
XI Concurso de Fotografía Deportiva, Concello de Santiago, Santiago de Compostela (First Prize) (2007)
I Certamen de Pintura Figurativa, Barcelona, Spain (Acquisition Award) (2006)
Certamen Maxoarte, Modalidad de fotografía a color, Puerto del Rosario, Las Palmas, Spain (First Prize) (2005)
Certamen Maxoarte, Modalidad de fotografía a color, Puerto del Rosario, Las Palmas, Spain (2004)
Certamen Maxoarte, Modalidad de pintura, Puerto del Rosario, Las Palmas, Spain (2001)
Certamen Maxoarte, Modalidad de pintura, Puerto del Rosario, Las Palmas, Spain (1998)

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Selected Exhibitions

ONE AND THREE POLAROIDS

Alzueta Gallery Barcelona Sèneca

Finished

27/10/2022 to 13/12/2022

T-10 PROJECT

Alzueta Gallery Barcelona Sèneca

Finished

08/07/2024 to 26/07/2024

New Portraits

Alzueta Gallery Barcelona Turó

Finished

15/02/2024 to 22/03/2024