Magnetic, visionary and multidisciplinary, the Madrid creator would have turned 70 in June. Family and experts in his work discover the keys to his world. This year, two exhibitions will celebrate his memory
Juan Muñoz went around with a knife in his pocket, like a bandit or a common criminal. It was never clear if this was true or part of the legend about him. But now the gallery owner Pepe Cobo, who was close, confirms it: "He did it to show himself as someone from the street, an insubmissive." This is confirmed by his wife, also an artist Cristina Iglesias: “Although from a certain moment on he wondered if the razor was not more typical of a neurotic”. And confirmed by Manuel Segade, curator and director of the CA2M museum in Móstoles, an expert in his work: "So he changed the knife for a deck of cards, as if sleight of hand were another type of weapon." Segade is the curator of the two exhibitions in the Community of Madrid dedicated to Juan Muñoz (Madrid, 1953-Ibiza, 2001), perhaps the most international contemporary Spanish artist of the last two decades of the 20th century, on his 70th anniversary of his birth. The first, Everything I See Will Survive Me (a quote from the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova), opens on February 14 at Sala Alcalá 31 in the capital. The second, En la hora violeta (title taken from the collection of poems La tierra baldía, by TS Eliot), at CA2M itself, will take place on June 17, the artist's birthday.Both make up, more than a tribute, a reminder. And they intend to provide a new look, projected towards the future —which is our present—, on an artist who has almost always explained himself from the conventions of the past. We are promised, let's say, a new Juan Muñoz. Although for Manuel Segade it is the same as always: "The usual reading about Juan Muñoz links him to the Spanish Baroque, but he was an international artist throughout his entire career," he says. “And, furthermore, you have to keep in mind that he died a few days before the 9/11 attacks, which marked the beginning of a time in which we began to stop distinguishing between fact and fiction . Then the war in Iraq was triggered by weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. The era of fake news began. And the social networks arrived and, with them, the influencers , who live a constant representation of his life. Well, Muñoz had already warned us about all this, who questioned whether he was going to bring us anything good ”.