Jack Rutberg Fine Arts presents a provocative exhibition of works by the celebrated contemporary artist from Spain, Jordi Alcaraz.  The exhibition, Jordi Alcaraz: Traslúcido extends through December 24th, 2010, and introduces a major new publication on Alcaraz.

Jordi Alcaraz: Traslúcido represents the first comprehensive view in America of Alcaraz’s profoundly poetic art. The exhibition brings together large and small scale works which transcend the categories of paintings, sculptures, and drawings as they blend all media, employing assemblage-like manner and installation.  Conceptually, Alcaraz extends notions of perspective beyond the realms of the physically-seen. The surfaces of paintings and drawings can be pierced or peeled back in a manner that forces the viewer to consider more deeply the properties of the physical and ephemeral. 

Utilizing various tools and materials much like an alchemist, Alcaraz creates realms as ambiguous as those of his Catalonian antecedents, such as found in the minimal spaces of Miro or in the surreal other-worldly landscapes of Dali.  Where his elder contemporary Antoni Tapies created astounding walls and doors - marked and eroded - evidencing both the surreal and the real, Alcaraz extends those notions, going beyond surface. Even boundaries created by frames enclosing his paintings and drawings are altered in unexpected ways, as in the assemblage entitled “To Catch a Drawing in Mid-Air,” which calls into question the distinction between interior and exterior. Alcaraz opens new realms in a Zen-like manner through the use of bending, tearing and puncturing materials in unpredictable ways. In another work, “El Temps” an antique carved wood figure gently extends her hand through its vitrine, melting away one dimension into another. Alcaraz’s aesthetic, verging on the minimal, brings the consideration of beauty and meditation to uniquely profound levels in conceptual art today.

Jordi Alcaraz: Traslúcido announces Jack Rutberg Fine Arts’ representation of Jordi Alcaraz and the release of a comprehensive book on the artist entitled Jordi Alcaraz dibuixos, with texts by the leading Spanish art critic, Mariano Navarro, and the renowned American critic, curator and scholar, Peter Selz.  This profusely illustrated book, co-published by Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, is presented with texts translated in English, Italian, German and Spanish.

Born in 1963 in Calella, near Barcelona, the trajectory of Alcaraz’s recognition has been particularly impressive in recent years. His works have been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Canada, Switzerland, and Spain in galleries and museums, and have been featured in international art fairs throughout the U.S. and Europe.

Jack Rutberg Fine Arts is located at 357 N. La Brea Avenue. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., and Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.  For info, phone (323) 938-5222                                              jrutberg@jackrutbergfinearts.com.