‘Goya x Lita Cabellut: Los Disparates’, A Contemporary Interpretation of Goya
Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid
19 November 2024
Opera Gallery represented artist Lita Cabellut is put forward in the exhibition 'Goya x Lita Cabellut. Los Disparates' from 30 October 2024 to 26 January 2025 at the prestigious RABASF – Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. Founded in 1752, the RABASF is Spain's oldest art institution, which provides a fitting backdrop for this coming together of the past and present, housing one of the world's most significant collections of Francisco Goya's work.
Curated by Eloy Martínez de la Pera Celada, 'Goya x Lita Cabellut. Los Disparates' presents an artistic dialogue between Francisco Goya's Disparates and the works of artist Lita Cabellut. The exhibition showcases 20 works by Cabellut, offering a contemporary interpretation of Francisco Goya's iconic series, Los Disparates.
Between 1815 and 1823, Francisco Goya delved deep into the contradictions and absurdities of the human condition. His series Los Disparates, composed of 18 engravings, fuses violence, absurdity, and grotesquerie with powerful symbolic and allegorical elements. Through deformed figures and dreamlike scenes, Goya invites viewers to contemplate the forces threatening to unravel society from within.
Lita Cabellut's reinterpretation of Los Disparates brings Goya's themes into the 21st century. Her work reflects the same tensions and questions that Goya posed in his era: brutality, selfishness, ignorance, and dehumanisation. Cabellut challenges traditional artistic norms, creating an experience that compels the audience to confront the darkness of the human soul and engage with the tensions that define our society. In the artist's own words: "Confronting Goya's Disparates has transformed me as a woman, as an artist, and as a person."
Cabellut's artistic practice is truly multidisciplinary, encompassing painting, sculpture, photography, installation, video, performance, opera scenography, illustration, graphic works, and poetry. Her work has been exhibited in museums worldwide including the Seoul Arts Center, Korea; Contemporary Art Museum, Sicily, Italy; CSMVS, Bombay, India and is included in several prestigious permanent collections such as Museo Goya IberCaja, Zaragoza Spain; Mac’S, Catania, Italy; The Fendi Collection, Italy; Fundación Vila Casas, Spain; Théâtre Mogador, France; Copelouzos, Greece; The Joop & Janine van de Ende Foundation; and The Paul van Rensch Foundation, the Netherlands.
The exhibition stimulates a deeper and more participatory appreciation of the conceptual richness emanating from the artistic dialogue between Goya and Cabellut, challenging the cognitive capacity of the spectator while providing an evident sensory stimulus.
In conjunction with 'Goya x Lita Cabellut. Los Disparates', Opera Gallery Madrid is presenting 'Miradas', an exhibition featuring some of Cabellut's most recent works. This complementary show is open to the public until 7 November, offering visitors a comprehensive view of the artist's evolving practice. 'La niña en la mirada', a previous solo exhibition of Lita Cabellut at Opera Gallery Madrid, showcased more of her recent work, which can be viewed on the exhibition page.
