José Luis Fajardo

(La Laguna, Tenerife, 1941)

Author's artworks
20th Century Spanish

This self-taught artist always maintained a close connection with Spanish avant-garde movements thanks to his friendship with fellow Canarian artists Martín Chirino (1925) and Manolo Millares (1926-1972). In 1964 he moved to Madrid, where he joined the Nuestro Arte group and started to lean towards the posits of
and the guidelines of the
.

After an expressionist period within figuration, with dismembered figures that protested against the violence of our society, he focused almost exclusively on his work with aluminium plates, which he cut and perforated, alluding to the social concerns that were to be an abiding feature in his practice. He later returned to figuration with more serene and abstract imaginary portraits.

His work is in major contemporary art collections, including ARTIUM in Vitoria, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Panama and the Chase Manhattan Bank Collection in New York.