SC Gallery opens its 2024-2025 exhibition season with ‘After Summer’ group show, featuring paintings by Guillermo Velasco, José Carlos Naranjo, Santiago Ydánez and Sebas Velasco.
This exhibition will be open for the public in SC Gallery, Bilbao, from 4 October through 15 November 2024.
For more information contact: scgallery@scgallery.es
‘After Summer’ group show is a group exhibition curated by SC Gallery, showing a selection of 4 international artists grouped in the same space. Guillermo Velasco, José Carlos Naranjo, Santiago Ydánez and Sebas Velasco, form this exhibition.
The exhibition is made up of pieces that mark a particular and subjective journey around the concept of the summer season. In which these artists from the field of contemporary painting approach with multiple approaches the idea of whether it is necessary to put on the brakes in these times when everything is spinning too fast. Starting from this premise, the exhibition invites 4 painters to reinterpret a temporary mood that takes us out of the routine.
This exhibition brings together a total of 10 works, most of them recently created, which reflect on the concept of the summer season as a symbolic space.
Santiago Ydanez & Guillermo Velasco
Santiago Ydañez & Jose Calos Naranjo
Jose Carlos Naranjo. “Tres lugares desconocidos (I,II,II)” 2024, Oil on canvas. 27 (width) x 16 (height) cm x 3
Santiago Ydañez. “Espagne”, 2024. Acrylic on canvas, 200 (width) x 150 (height) cm
Jose Carlos Naranjo. “Extrarradio (after joe cooke)” 2024. Oil on linen. 162 (width) x 89 (height) cm +
“Gilbert & Alfred” 2024. Oil on linen. 100 (width) x 70 (height) cm
Guillermo Velasco. “El evangelio del coyote I & II” 2023. Oil and marker on linen. 100 (width) x 81 (height) cm (x2)
Sebas Velasco. “No surprises” 2024. Oil on wood. 100 (width) x 81 (height) cm
Santiago Ydañez ‘ST’. Acrylic on canvas. 120 (height) x 190 (width)
BELOW BIO ARTISTS
Guillermo Velasco Páez (Palma del Río, Córdoba, 1992)
Graduated in Fine Arts from the University of Seville (2016) where he worked as Deputy Collaborator in the Drawing Department, the following year, teaching said subject. After this he completed the Master in Production Interdisciplinary Artistic at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Málaga (2018).
He has received the Residency Scholarship from the Antonio Gala Foundation in Córdoba (Promotion XVII) and the twelve-month scholarship with a study session from the BilbaoArte Foundation (2021). He has exhibited his work at the Cultural Center MVA, Malaga; At the Caja Granada Foundation Cultural Center Memory of Andalusia (Granada), Caja Rioja Foundation and Museum of La Rioja. Gallery Zuniño, Seville; Exhibition hall Higher School of Design of La Rioja, Logroño; Exhibit Gallery in Santander, with the individual Action/Saturation; In Basauri (Vizcaya) in Tower of Ariz with the individual Atrezo. Tour de force. He has shown his work at FIG Bilbao in the XI Edition with the Exhibit Gallery. In the XXV El Broncese Plastic Arts Prize, XV Painting Prize City of Badajoz, Casimiro Sainz National Painting Contest (2021 and 2022) and La Rioja Young Art Exhibition (2021 and 2022). Exposed individually in Bologna within the framework of ArtCity Artefiera 2023 presenting part of the Action/Saturation project in the Italian city. Recently, he was the winner of the UNIA Painting Prize in its IX edition, and he has also been awarded the Iniciarte 2023 Scholarship that gave rise to his individual and subsequent participation in ARCO 2024, Batacazo (managing the failure) exhibited in the Iberian Museum of Jaén. His latest individual project Climbing a boat up a mountain has been exposed this past April in the Laraña gallery of the Faculty of Fine Arts in the city of Seville.
José Carlos Naranjo (Villamartin, Cadiz, 1983)
The practice of José Carlos Naranjo reflects a pictorial style based on the construction of a new figurative language that emerged more than a decade ago, the product and result of a young generation. His chosen subject matter often features the immediate urban landscape, depicting anonymous figures caught in unusual, spontaneous, and relaxed poses in the middle of the night, typically associated with recreational activities and stripped of any solemn undertones.
While the themes he explores are crucial to shaping his artistic language, his approach to composition is equally significant, drawing a direct connection to photography through his use of framing and flash lighting. Additionally, his use of a loose technique allows him to highlight the carefree nature of his paintings, resulting in a deliberately rough finish. A flash of light captures his subjects in the act, depicted through beams of white light and vibrant, acidic colors, standing out against a dark, highly contrasted background that is intrinsic to the nocturnal setting.
His work has received national and international recognition and is included in collections such as BMW Iberia, Club del Arte Joven Paul Ricard, UNIA International University of Andalucia, CAC Malaga, Fundación Venancio Blanco, and Fundación Olontia, among others.
Naranjo has been honored with the 28th BMW Painting Award, Figurativas ’11 in Barcelona, Maestro Mateo Art Prize in Cordoba in 2011, the UNIA Painting Prize, the 10th Club del Arte Paul Ricard Painting Award, the 77th José Arpa Painting Prize in Carmona, the Griffin Art Prize Iberia in 2014, the Columbia Threadneedle Prize in London in 2016, and a residency at Casa de Velázquez through the Pilar Juncosa & Sotheby’s Awards and Scholarships 2021, Fundació Miró Mallorca.
Recently, he held a solo exhibition at Sala Pescadería Vieja in Jerez de la Frontera. His work has also been exhibited in venues such as Scan Project Room in London, Casa de Iberoamérica in Cadiz, CAC Malaga, Unit 1 Gallery in London, Beers London Gallery, Birimbao Gallery in Seville, Luis Adelantado Gallery in Valencia, and Casa de Velazquez in Madrid, among others.
Santiago Ydáñez (Jaen, 1967) lives and works between Berlin and Jaen. He is one of the most internationally renowned painters of his generation. His figurative painting makes him an unmistakable artist in the contemporary art scene.
He has been awarded the 33rd BMW Painting Award in 2018, the ABC Prize in 2002 and the scholarship of the Spanish Academy in Rome in 2016, among others. His imagery is charged with childhood memories of nature and folklore, along with references to art history and the history of humanity. His work often conceals ethical and political messages.
He is a painter of classical subjects whose work is renowned for the expressiveness with which he endows his animals, people and religious imagery. He creates his works in quick sessions, capturing the essential, through a broad, expressive and very energetic brushstroke. His pieces are characterized by the use of a reduced palette of colours close to black and white.
Sebas Velasco (b. 1988) is a Spanish artist exploring the urban landscape, people and culture through expressive oil paintings and colossal public projects. Through his observations on light and space, Sebas celebrates the present while respecting the profound history underpinning his curiosities.
Over the last few years, Sebas Velasco has aligned himself with the great documentarians of the transitional countries of Eastern Europe. With frequent visits to Poland and the countries of former Yugoslavia, Velasco observes the shifting relationship between the urban environment and economical/political structures. Concrete utopias have come to identify Velasco’s work, but his artistic prowess lies in his elevation of the mundane, breathing life into decaying and forgotten spaces. Concrete giants, abandoned vehicles, and neon signs are collaged from photographs taken during his extensive trips to the region to create new realities. With a meticulous focus on light and its properties, Velasco’s art transcends the boundaries of conventional aesthetics toward a more atmospheric and emotional reflection of time.
Emerging from the Spanish graffiti scene of the early 2000s, Sebas Velasco’s artistic journey began once he relocated to Bilbao for his studies in Fine Arts. Since then he has earned grants such as the El Paular landscape painting grant, organized by the Royal Academy of San Quirce Palacio Quintanar in Segovia, and the Artistic Residency Grant from the Antonio Gala Foundation.
He has also received several awards, including the first prize in the International Sports Drawing Competition, organized by the Catalan Union of Sports Federations, and the first prize in the prestigious AXA Burgos Cathedral painting competition. Notably, in 2022, he was invited for a conversation series at the Prado Museum in Madrid. Velasco has exhibited across Europe, the USA and Asia and has originals held in notable private and international collections.
Continuing the great tradition of Basque art collectives in Spain, Velasco is also a member of the Formato Norte group. These artists celebrate the proud legacy of creativity and collaboration in the region.
“After Summer” Group show
Artists: Guillermo Velasco, José Carlos Naranjo, Santiago Ydáñez and Sebas Velasco.
Exhibition: 4 October – 15 November 2024
Opening times: Tuesdays – Fridays from 17:00 to 20:30 h.
Mornings and Saturdays: By appointment
