Rafa Forteza

Rafa Forteza is a prominent Spanish artist born in Mallorca in 1955. His work is framed within the gestural and informalist tradition of the second half of the 20th century in Spain and Germany, and is characterized by establishing a dialogue between abstraction and figuration, and between reality and concept. Through his work, Forteza seeks a language based on essential forms, such as the cross or the human face, taken to a maximum schematism through short brushstrokes, circles, and false collages. His work also reflects influences from Art Povera, Art Brut, and Abstract Expressionism, but always with a pure creativity and intentionally conceived with a certain primitivist air. Forteza has exhibited individually in important galleries and museums around the world, including L21, Kewenig Mallorca, Pelaires, the Joan Miró Foundation, the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, and Kunst Station Sankt Peter in Cologne, among others. He has also participated in numerous international art fairs such as ARCO Madrid, Art Basel, and Art Cologne. Her work is part of prominent public and private collections, including MoMA in New York, the Centro Nacional de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the DeutscheBank Collection, the La Caixa Collection, and the Münchner Kunstlerhaus Stiftung in Munich. Forteza has also published artist's books in collaboration with poets and other artists such as Joan Brossa, José Carlos Llop, José Ángel Valente, and Antonio Saura, among others. In 2016, a monograph of her work, "Más cara," was published by Printer Fault Press in Spain.