EROS, YOUR BODY AS AN EXCUSE

BY: Ines Valencia

Hidden within Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter, and across the street from the Picasso museum, is the European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM), a small museum dedicated to contemporary figurative art and located in the beautiful eighteenth-century Gomis Palace. From October 15 to December 13, 2020, the museum is holding a temporary exhibition ‘Eros, Your Body as an Excuse,’ composed of paintings and sculptures by about 60 different artists, all working in varied mediums but exploring one common theme: the concept of EROS.

Eros refers to sexual love or desire, but as MEAM director José Manuel Infiesta says, the exhibition focuses on “EROS understood not as an idea of sexual fantasy but as a reason that emanates from the libido of each human being as something natural and independent of their condition of beauty, sex or sexual characteristic. EROS as a description of the most physical aspect of each human who, naturally, becomes excited by desire, knows and recognizes his own body intimately, and seeks to explore it, savor it and give it pleasure. EROS, not as a Greek divinity, but as an individual reality of every human being who dreams of their intimate moments of sexual fullness, individual or shared.”

The show is curated by Golucho, a gifted Spanish artist of the New Realism movement. He has worked closely with MEAM in the past and had his retrospective exhibition at the museum in 2015. Golucho spent months selecting artists of diverse backgrounds and specialties who then created works specifically for this exhibition, and the result is stunning.

Having the opportunity to attend the show in person, I was in awe of various techniques, explicitness, subjects, and perspectives. Each artist approached and interpreted the topic differently, leading the viewer to reflect on the notion of being profound. In the exhibition catalog, Golucho states, “One is not what one believes he is, nor is he what others believe he is. Everything is distorted by the desire to be. Painting is a good way to show the difference.” He also touches on censorship and a society in which one is taught to conform to what is the norm, leaving one’s individuality aside, “Every artist must give their own interpretation of the world… guided only by their own impulses, those that throughout the centuries have differentiated us from stagnant civilizations stuck in the past…” The only way to move forward is to challenge society and break away from the rules. Something that also drew my attention was that Golucho chose to include photographs of the artists on the artwork labels, which gave the works an even more personal touch. All the exhibition pieces are incredible, but my personal favorite was Night Reflections by George Rorris, as I perceived a mixture of both old and new in the same painting. The view outside the right window is of the modern world, whereas there is a small image of Velázquez’s Las Meninas on the left, and the reflection of a nude woman in the center. I was also impressed by Irene Cuadrado’s self-portrait Autorretrato en la sombra, and Jordi Díaz Alamà’s Vulcano, Red Studio Series.

The exhibition’s setting also adds to its splendor. The eighteenth-century palace that houses MEAM might not look like much outside but is just magnificent inside. With every new temporary exhibition, it can remain the same but at the same time transform completely.

Anyone who has a chance to visit this exhibition and the rest of the MEAM’s fabulous collection of contemporary figurative art should do so. It is one of Barcelona’s hidden gems and an experience I promise you won’t regret. ‘Eros, Your Body as an Excuse,’ will be open until December 13, 2020.