GUSTAVO TORNER (Cuenca, 1925).

GUSTAVO TORNER (Cuenca, 1925). "Appearances", 1966-1969. Mixed media on board. With label on the back of the Soledad Lorenzo Gallery (Madrid). Sizes: 69 x 90 cm; 73,5 x 95 cm (frame). Mixed technique on board, in which the author has divided the pictorial surface into two complementary ones, at both ends of which a tree branch painted on board can be seen. This type of experimentation, in which Torner used different materials such as earth, roots or wood, began in the late 1950s, when he began his aesthetic research into transcended matter. He subjected it to an order that can be appreciated both in the symmetry of the composition and in the use of colour. However, the binary choice of tones indicates that this is a work close to the 1970s. It is worth noting the presence of the label of the Soledad Lorenzo Gallery, which was a space designed by the artist himself. A painter and sculptor who was a member of the so-called Cuenca school, Gustavo Torner began his training by studying engineering at Monte, but abandoned this facet in order to devote himself professionally, for which he began a self-taught training. He produced his first works in the forties, developing a figurative aesthetic style, but it was not until 1956 when he began to work in a purely abstract language, within the informalist current, and with a clear tendency towards both textuality and lyricism. His work has been characterised by exploration, and throughout his career he has worked with various techniques such as painting, engraving, sculpture, drawing, collage, photography and graphic design. In addition to the fine arts, he has participated in various fields such as scenography, and has also collaborated with the design of such significant spaces as some rooms of the Prado Museum, the Museum of Spanish Abstract Art in Cuenca, some LOEWE shops, and as an advisor in the mounting of exhibitions of the Juan March Foundation. For these reasons Torner has become one of the great artistic references of abstract art both nationally and internationally, an example of which are some of the awards he has received throughout his career, such as the Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic, the commendation and the Grand Cross of the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise, the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts, as well as being a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. Currently his work, praised by both critics and the public, is to be found in important private collections and public spaces of great artistic interest, as well as in the Patio Herreriano in Valladolid, the MNCARS, the Municipal de Arte Contemporáneo in Madrid, the Museo de Arte Abstracto Español in Cuenca, the Conde Duque cultural centre and the Torner space, located in Cuenca and inaugurated in 2005.