Galerie Poggi is delighted to present at Frieze London an important solo show of Darío Villalba (Spain, 1939-2018), whose Estate announced joining the gallery last year. Ahead of a new major retrospective curated by a prominent European museum, there is no better place than Frieze to premiere the comeback for this artist, whose work has not been shown in the UK for far too long. Yet London has played an essential role in the personal life and work of this giant for more than five decades. It is precisely this link that will be highlighted at Frieze with an exceptional group of historical works inspired by his experience in New York City in the early 60s, and most importantly, by his deeply-rooted connection to London spanning from 1964 to 2007.
A pioneer in the diverse applications of photography, Darío Villalba quickly rose to prominence as a significant artist in the international art scene upon his emergence in the late 60s. His oeuvre began as a response to American Pop and consumer society and sought to restore the "maximum transcendence" of images and marginalised figures (young people, the elderly, the mentally ill, prisoners, the homeless, the sick, etc.). Mixing photography and painting, he dialogued with most of the avant-gardes of his time, from conceptual art to informal art, practices responding to the AIDS crisis, and performance art.
A haven for Villalba amid Franco’s regime and his homosexuality, London played a major role in his life and work. Many images from Notting Hill Carnival and Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park circulate in his work, embodying the open desire and extravagance that he sought.