The artist Juan Gopar will participate in the VIII edition of the Iberian Contemporary Art Fair? Foro Sur to be held in Cáceres between April 24 and 27. The presence of the artist, who is presented under the patronage of the Manuel Ojeda Gallery, has the support of Canarias Crea, the program for the dissemination of Canarian culture abroad of the Autonomous Government.
The only Canarian representative at Foro Sur, Juan Gopar (Lanzarote, 1958), is a multidisciplinary creator who has channeled his artistic expression towards manifestations as diverse as painting, sculpture, photography and video. Gopar, a prolific author as attested by his thousand works of the last ten years, currently works in two studios. One houses his sculptures, while in the other, smaller one, he works on painting. Likewise, his extensive career is supported by numerous collective and individual exhibitions both in Spain and abroad. His works are part of permanent collections such as those of La Caixa in Barcelona, Genty Latimer in London, the Atlantic Center of Modern Art (CAAM) of Gran Canaria, the Achenbach Art Consulting in Dusseldorf, or the ARTIUM of Vitoria, to name a few.
According to the critic Orlando Franco, "Juan Gopar works from memory and does so by establishing a kind of reserved language, which feeds and appropriates those rudiments that are promoted from a singular environment: his immediate environment." For Franco, Gopar's work exudes "the sensation of the archaeological tragedy of man in time."
Over time, Foro Sur has managed to consolidate and maintain itself as a benchmark for the sector and the art world. A good example of this are the 25 art galleries from Spain and Portugal that will participate in the meeting, and which will be held, thanks to the collaboration of the Extremaduran institutions, in such charismatic buildings as the San Jorge cultural center and the Church of La Preciosa Sangre in the old town of Cáceres.
The fair, which last year had around 15,000 professional visitors, has as its conceptual pillar the promotion of dialogue and encounter with Portugal and Latin America, hence this eighth edition includes the most outstanding galleries in Portugal and Argentina in terms of contemporary art. Along with the exhibition itself, a wide range of parallel activities and artistic installations will be developed to complement the Extremaduran cultural event.
