Overview
A graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Complutense University of Madrid, Alberto Rodríguez Serrano (Madrid, 1988) is an exceptionally talented artist with an international presence on the contemporary scene. Well-trained in traditional art techniques and European art history, Serrano creates from a solid foundation of core skills. His subjects are varied, contemporary and innovative, enriched by a knowledge of the past as well as a deep awareness rooted in the 21st century. In June 2015 his work was added to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection in Madrid: one of the few living artists, and the youngest, to receive this honour.
In 2017 he presented his work Pietà to His Holiness Pope Francis, again as one of the youngest artists in the Vatican collection. Serrano’s work, rich in quality and sensibility, embodies a new way of understanding art, demolishing the static concept of traditional painting. Using an innovative technique based on the use of luminescent pigments, both phosphorescent and fluorescent, he gives his work an emotional depth and material complexity that far exceeds any other work with similar qualities seen to date. Through the interplay of light and shade, the paintings come to life, with intense feeling and a sense of depth. The exhibition displays some of the most important works created by Serrano in recent years, a compendium of different artistic representations resulting from long periods of experimentation and work on innovative techniques. The exhibition is divided into two types of paintings: works painted using traditional techniques and exhibited in a traditional way, in permanent mode, hence for the whole duration of the exhibition, and luminescent works, shown to the public by the artist himself through an interplay of carefully calibrated darkness and light, and therefore viewable in their complexity only during performances scheduled in the course of the five months of the exhibition.
