BALLESTER, José Manuel
Madrid, 1960
www.josemanuelballester.com
Painter and photographer, Ballester has always been interested in the techniques of the Italian and Flemish schools of the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries. His latest work, which alternates traditional media and digital photography, focuses compositionally and chromatically on the cooling process of reality and minimalist dispossession, an essential feature of most of his works. Among others, he has received the Francisco de Goya Painting Prize (2008), the National Print Prize (1999) and the Culture Prize of the Autonomous Community of Madrid (2008). He won the National Photography Award in 2010, a few months after starting his photographic project for Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson, which is currently holding a travelling exhibition of “Visions of Asturias” under the title “Allumar”.
INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITIONS (selection)
2014
Umbrales de silencio (Thresholds of silence). Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Esteban Vicente. Segovia
In ictu oculi. Cathedral of Jaén
Visions of Asturias: Allumar. Centro Conde Duque.Madrid
Visions of Asturias: Allumar. Centro de Cultura Antiguo Instituto. Gijón
2013
Visions of Asturias: Allumar. Centro de Cultura Antiguo Instituto. Gijón
60 miradas a Ferrovial (60 visions of Ferrovial). Caixa Forum Madrid
Concealed Spaces. Frost Art Museum. Miami.
Bosques de Luz (Forests of Light). Edificio Tabacalera. Madrid
2012
“Spazi Nascosti il lavoro del renascismento italiano”. Real Academia de Spain in Rome
“La Abstracción en la Realidad (Abstraction in Reality)”. DA2. Salamanca
2011
“Arquitecturas e Simulacros (Architectures and Drills)”. Museo Lasar Segall. Sao Paulo
“Reflejos (Reflections)” Archaeological Museum of Madrid
“Abstraction in reality.” Sala Alcalá 31. Autonomous Community of Madrid
2010
“Espacios Ocultos (Hidden Spaces)”. Galería Pascal Vanhoecke. Paris
2009
“La Gran Ciudad en la China actual (The big city in China today).” New monastery of San Juan de la Peña. Jaca. Huesca
“Tras-Pasar el Vacio (After-Passing the Void)”. Palacio Almudí. Murcia
“China International Gallery Exposition 2009”. (CIGE 2009). Galería Estiarte. Madrid
2008
“Photo Miami”. Galería Pascal Vanhoecke. Paris
“Espacios para la Música (Spaces for Music)”. Galería Pascal Vanhoecke. Paris
“Hidden Spaces”. Galería de Arte Distrito 4. Madrid.
“madrid-berlin”. Palacio de Comunicaciones de Madrid
2007
“Obra reciente sobre China (Recent work on China)”. Central Academy of Fine Arts. Beijing China
“Hiperarquitectura e hiperdiseño: nuevos modelos urbanos en la China del siglo XXI (Hyperarchitecture and hyperdesign: new urban models in China in the 21st century)” Casa Asia. Barcelona and Fundación Astroc. Madrid
ARTWORKS IN THE COLLECTION