13 december 2022, Manuela Klerkx
Lita Cabellut's Painting and the Old Masters of the Future
Lita Cabellut, voted Artist of the Year 2021, describes her studio as ‘her hell, her delirium, her head and her illusion’. In short, as a place where she is completely herself. We were allowed a glimpse into this, for her, magical place and got a sneak preview of the solo exhibition 'Unfolding Density' currently on show at MPV Gallery in Oisterwijk.
'In my studio, things are torn apart and embraced. Here I come to insights and have to go through my own blind spots and confusion. It's a place where I die and am reborn every day.'
Lita Cabellut, Alice, 2022, MPV Gallery
Born in Barcelona and living in The Hague, the artist loves watching graffiti and has a great admiration for street artists; their technique, their use of colour, but above all: their message. According to her, today's street artists are the old masters of the future. With their written poetry, they deliver social criticism and dare to touch on important themes.
Lita Cabellut, Alexander, 2022, MPV Gallery
‘'Street artists visualise what is going on in the streets and the conflicts between different generations and the establishment.'
Her most recent series of paintings are compositions consisting of a layer of graffiti overlaid with a classically painted, realistic portrait that eventually merge into each other.
'Neither academic art nor street art is the priority in my paintings. The final result is a fusion between then and now.'
In both her graffiti and her series of black-and-white paintings on view at 'Unfolding Density', Cabellut is concerned with contradictions and the power of art to break through them. For instance, she considers the division between abstract and figurative, or between academic art and street art as a completely arbitrary division that limits the view of art.
Lita Cabellut, El si o el no de la margarita, 2022, MPV Gallery
The same goes for the opposition between black and white, which Cabellut believes does not exist. And she demonstrates this through 'Unfolding Density': a series of paintings that at first glance appear to be done in black and white, but which, at a closer look, are full of colour that tries to escape this contradiction in order to nullify it.
Lita Cabellut, Willem, 2022, MPV Gallery
Once again, Cabellut manages to bring to life archetypal and existential human states of being such as sadness, fear, vulnerability and challenge. Exactly like the street artists and old masters but based on her own unique technique and her own ideas about art and society.
Lita Cabellut's solo exhibition 'Unfolding Density' at MPV Gallery can be visited until 22 January 2023
