Amp. Julio Rondo
a d a m g a l l e r y Amp. Julio Rondo 24 CORK STREET London W1S 3NJ t: 0207 439 6633 e: info@adamgallery.com www.adamgallery.com
Julio Rondo Born in Spain, in 1952, Julio Rondo emigrated to Germany with his family in 1962, where he has continued to live ever since. The artist has exhibited widely across Europe and the USA and Adam Gallery is thrilled to represent him for the first time in the UK. Rondo has established an international reputation particularly for his geometrically structured work painted behind glass. The foundation for these works is based on memory. Rondo is fascinated by how memory and its journey through our emotions can define and alter our future. An experience we have once had will be remembered within a different reality and by an altered mind and as such, how we react to new experiences can often be based upon a recollection of a similar past event. Rondo s paintings are based on actual recollections of his past, a time, a place in which he once existed, they are at the same time forgotten and intensified. The compositions are snatches of memory that have been interpreted and manipulated, reduced even, to their purest essence; they are by their nature, deeply personal experiences. The constant reflexive movement of his work perfectly represents the nature of memory. His works are composed of a painted wood backboard with a simple design contrasting a multi-layered grid and line structure of acrylic paint behind the glass. A subsequent empty space is left between the two, which gives his work a three-dimensional aspect. With monochromic shapes of grey or pale yellow painted on the background, Julio seems to suggest either an internal light or the allusion of a shadow. In works such as Always Coming Back or Sunday in Madrid (both 2009), he uses colours with a strong impact such as black and red to form a contrast to the delicate layer of translucent single colour mesh. He reverses the common use of light and his work luminates from the inside; floating shapes of shadows and unseen marks, iridescent reds or deep purples filtered from the inside of the piece through the outside of the glass. In this exhibition, Julio Rondo has taken the subject of memory with its underlying character of chaos and abstraction and given us a beautiful body of work that exudes an overwhelming sense of peace and inner calm. Cecilia Battin
1. Window acrylic behind glass, acrylic on wood 154 x 180 cm 2009
2. Messengers of Day acrylic behind glass, acrylic on wood 154 x 180 cm 2009
3. The Pond acrylic behind glass, acrylic on wood 110 x 94 cm 2009 4. Se alquila acrylic behind glass, acrylic on wood 110 x 94 cm 2009
5. Shh, Shh, Calm acrylic behind glass, acrylic on wood 152 x 122 cm 2009
6. Patio acrylic behind glass, acrylic on wood 94 x 110 cm 2009 7. Chalana acrylic behind glass, acrylic on wood 80 x 70 cm 2009
8. Pearl GB acrylic behind glass, acrylic and varnish on wood 122 x 152 cm 2009
9. Pradera acrylic behind glass, acrylic on wood 80 x 70 cm 2009 10. Silverlake acrylic behind glass, acrylic on wood 80 x 70 cm 2009
11. Three Times acrylic behind glass, acrylic on wood 60 x 72 cm 2009
12. Always Coming Back acrylic behind glass, acrylic on wood 72 x 60 cm 2009 13. A Sunday in Madrid acrylic behind glass, acrylic on wood 72 x 60 cm 2009
14. The Other Nightfall acrylic behind glass, acrylic on wood 180 x 154 cm 2008
15. Don t Explain mixed media on paper 42 x 60 cm 2004 16. Early Morning Rain mixed media on paper 60 x 42 cm 2008
17. Shape of Things (to Come) mixed media on paper 42 x 60 cm 2004 18. The Less I Know mixed media on paper 60 x 42 cm 2008
19. Thing Like That (G) mixed media on paper 42 x 60 cm 2004 20. Sweet Memory mixed media on paper 42 x 60 cm 2008
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2009 Amp. Adam Gallery, London (catalogue) 2008 Rented Rooms Galerie Reinhard Hauff, Stuttgart Comb Your Hair With Water And Go To Church Bendana-Pinel Art Contemporain, Paris 2007 You Know, I Know, Galerie Andreas Binder, Munich Julio Rondo, Galeria Sala Pelaires, Palma de Mallorca 2006 Mating Call, Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin 2005 The Mating Call, Galerie Andreas Binder, Munich Julio Rondo, Galerie Stefan Röpke, Cologne 2004 The Mating Call Galerie Reinhard Hauff, Stuttgart Galeria Ames y Röpke, Madrid 2002 Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin (catalogue) Galerie Stefan Röpke, Cologne 2001 Galerie Andreas Binder, Munich Galeria Ames y Röpke, Madrid Galerie Reinhard Hauff, Stuttgart 2000 Galerie Franck + Schulte, Berlin 1999 Gasser & Grunert Gallery, New York Galerie Andreas Binder, Munich 1988 Galerie Reinhard Hauff, Stuttgart 1997 Galerie Andreas Binder, Munich 1996 Galerie Tanja Grunert, Cologne Galerie Reinhard Hauff, Stuttgart 1995 Galerie Klaus Peter Göbel, Stuttgart (catalogue) 1993 Galerie Tanja Grunert, Cologne 1991 Galerie Ralph Wernicke, Stuttgart (catalogue) Galerie Wilma Tolksdorf, Hamburg 1990 Galerie Tanja Grunert, Cologne Galerie Marc Jancou, Zurich SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2009 365 Days, Bendana-Pinel Art Contemporain, Paris Playing With Space, Galerie Roepke, Cologne 2007 Jubilee, Andreas Binder Gallery, Munich 2003 Art Center, Sioux City 2002 Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin Galerie Stephan Röpke Cologne The Pond, Chicago 2001 geo & metric, Galerie Andreas Binder, Munich 2000 Galerie Andreas Binder, Munich 1999 Galerie Reinhard Hauff, Stuttgart 1997 Galerie Gasser und Grunert, Cologne 1996 Galerie Tanja Grunert, Cologne Galerie Andreas Binder, Munich 1995 Galerie Brandstetter und Wyss, Zurich Inbetween, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (catalogue) 1994 Inbetween, Landschaftsverband Rheinland, Archäologisches Museum Xanten 1993 Inbetween, XLV Biennale, Venice (catalogue) 1992 Galerie Tanja Grunert, Cologne 1991 Gullivers Reisen Galerie Sophia Ungers, Cologne (catalogue) Kunstverein Ludwigsburg 36. Salon de Montrouge, Jeune Création Allemande, Paris (catalogue) Das goldene Zeitalter, Kunstverein Stuttgart (catalogue) 1990 90 a.s.o. Auvers sur Oise (catalogue) Vanitas Galerie Janine Mautsch, Cologne 1989 Galerie Tanja Grunert, Cologne Jet Lag Turon Travel, New York 1988 Galerie Tanja Grunert, Cologne Galerie Marie-Luise Wirth, Zurich Galerie Ralph Wernicke Stuttgart Photo: Michael Mann 1989 Galerie Wilma Tolksdorf, Hamburg 1988 Galerie Tanja Grunert, Cologne Galerie Ralph Wernicke Stuttgart (catalogue)
a d a m g a l l e r y www.adamgallery.com 24 CORK STREET London W1S 3NJ t: 0207 439 6633 13 JOHN STREET Bath BA1 2JL t: 01225 480406