Grupo de personas en un atrio o alegoría del arte y la vida o del presente y el futuro (Group of People in an Atrium or Allegory of Art and Life or of the Present and the Future)

Guillermo Pérez Villalta is a multifaceted creator whose work spans disciplines such as design, painting and set design. He defines himself as an ‘artificer’, a term that refers both to the tradition of the artist as a builder of images and to his desire to integrate diverse fields of knowledge. His imagination is nourished by different cultural references, ranging from mythology and philosophy to literature and art history, coming together in a postmodern synthesis. The influence of his training in architecture is evident in the structural rigour of his compositions and his interest in order, proportion and spatiality as vehicles for expression.
This emblematic piece was created for his first exhibition at the Vandrés Gallery and constitutes both a generational portrait — artists, critics and gallery owners from its creative milieu — and a ‘manifesto painting’ of the artistic movement known as Nueva Figuración Madrileña (New Madrid Figuration). The scene takes place in an imaginary postmodern architectural space revealing echoes of Mannerism, opening onto a labyrinthine garden inspired by Andalusian gardens. Within it, characters are strategically arranged, revealing their identity through their poses and the association of symbols, in the manner of the great group scenes in art history, such as Raphael’s The School of Athens (1509 – 1511) or Max Ernst’s Au rendez-vous des amis (A Friends’ Reunion, 1922).

María Teresa López Flores