Pepita Lumier. Stew, 7
One of the most interesting and committed illustrators on the current scene, Ana Penyas (here the interview we did), stars in the individual exhibition at the Pepita Lumier gallery this month. It's called that, Ana Penyas. Solo exhibition, without further ado, because his thing is illustration, do not put titles, and because the drawing of a grandmother and a bakala linked with their backs to each other that greets us upon entering the gallery summarizes what this exhibition is.. A taste of what the Valencian has done so far, who has closed a vital stage in his city to try new experiences in Madrid. So Valencia, from which his illustrations and comics draw very directly., has been left behind for the moment and this exhibition is a point and a part that marks a change in their daily life and their visual world, although feminism, Historical memory and territory continue to be vital themes that do not abandon.
In Pepita Lumier you can see, mainly, graphic novel originals We are all fine (Salamandra Graphic) about the lives of his two grandmothers during the Franco regime, a project that began as class work while studying Fine Arts, mutated into a fanzine for Tenderete and, four years later, made her the National Comic Award. They are black and white drawings on white sheets made by an illustrator who is trying to become a professional and who does not think that this will end up in the public eye.. In the originals of the other great work on display, In transition (his other great comic), We already found other designs, in full color, with higher demands. In transition (Berlin) It is a good blow to the sacrosanct Spanish Transition in which Penyas seeks the voice of the street, in contrast to the official policy discourse. In both comics, the social, the collective, It's political, although it is not framed within official channels, and underlying a manners committed to feminism, with historical memory and social struggles. We are looking at an author interested in telling the story in lowercase letters, the one that doesn't appear in the textbooks, but it says a lot about the changes that occur in society. The mural he painted for the IVAM cafeteria completes the tour, a small comic published by El País Semanal for the 8 of March and illustrations for the feminist publication Pikara Magazine. Viewing the set, Penyas appreciates formal changes (more color, other perspectives, more security…) and narrative, but the theme always clings to the everyday. It is something that does not exhaust. S.M.
