GONZALO SAEZ DIAZ MERRY

GONZALO SAEZ DIAZ MERRY - It was just a dream

Technique: Acrylic and ink on traffic signs

Artist Biography: I currently work in a rather pop style with a touch of surrealism. My iconography is composed of all kinds of cultural and mass media references present in the collective unconscious (brands, characters, objects or texts) although decontextualized, to give them a new meaning through the dialogue that is created between them. Among these icons prevail those that refer to my childhood, or even lately to my children's tastes. Eroticism with a certain air of naivety is also common. I seek to awaken the imagination of the viewer through the decontextualization of the characters and the apparent incongruity of the representation so that opposing feelings arise from the title of the work and the iconography used. That memories of his childhood come to the surface or that he feels attracted by the eroticism of a glance, that he discovers beauty in violent scenes or laughs when deciphering the contradictions of my works. My works show a clear influence of British and American Pop Art of the 50's and 60's, Richard Hamilton, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Rauschenberg, Spanish artists like Equipo Crónica, Antonio de Felipe, Óscar Seco or other international artists like Banksy, Takashi Murakami or Yue minjun. The influence of illustrators such as Milo Manara or Alberto Vargas is also evident.

 

In my works I mix Pop Art and Surrealism in equal parts. I decontextualize icons of popular culture and mass media, giving them a new meaning through the dialogue that is created between them. I tend to mix memories from my childhood with my children's tastes, although sometimes I also like to add a touch of eroticism combined with a certain naivety. I look for inspiration in everything around me. Cinema, music, television, literature classics or cartoons, comics or advertising. I start from a very simple question: What would happen if...? And I let the characters talk to each other in an unexpected scenario.