EXHIBITION “S” PORNO. NO ROMPER

Datefrom the 4th of April to the 30th of June of 2024.
Opening: 4th of April, at 7PM
Schedule: Monday to Friday, from 11AM to 8PM. Consult the centre opening hours for the weekend schedule CICUS en abierto
Horario a partir del lunes 17 de julio: de lunes a viernes, de 10 a 13:45 y de 18 a 20:45 h.
Location: Sala Casajús  · CICUS (C/ Madre de Dios, 1)

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This exhibition took more time to summarize, since it is paradigmatic, like many other things. Many years ago, when contact started with the Echegoyán family, a possibility to show their grandfather’s work was raised in the conversation. We were informed that a great portion of his workstill remained with them, and that it was accessible to us. They also mentioned to us a forbidden folder and, of course, curiosity got the better of us. We immediately proposed a visit and when it was ending, we casually asked if it would be possible to see that mysterious folder.

The beginning of the sample that we are now exhibiting was a surprise. “S” Porno, no romper “S” Porno, no romperwas the name of the envelope in which a series of drawings of a private character and consumption had been preserved. This is what happens when we have a taste of the forbidden, one always wants to unveil the secret. The label was so suggestive that we wanted to keep it as the title of this sample.

The forbidden nature of what he was doing is added to the intimacy of the drawings. It is for this reason that the artist, Manuel Echegoyán, wished for them to be protected and not broken: because a day would come eventually when his secret would lose that fear of incomprehension.

The most difficult thing about this work is recognising how after the defeat of the republican side in the Spanish Civil War, the artist had to adapt to an extremely conservative society, with ideas that he did not share. Deviating from the status quo was complicated and dangerous, and it provoked a simultaneous prudence and desire for conservation.Life is a constant contradiction, and somehow Echegoyán manages the appreciation of a society in which he does not recognize himself.

“S” Porno no romper can be seen today with a perspective different to the views of the times in which these drawings were created. Sex is mostly no longer taboo, and some drawings could even be considered naïve now. However, we must not forget that homosexuality, lesbianism, and sexual pleasure have not always been normal as they are in our days. That is why these drawings, to which we have added that ones made during the war, can be considered as a recognition of a freer and less dark way of thinking. A way of thinking that completes the vision of an artist and adds new records of his work that are closer to his liberal thoughts, instead of what has been attributed to him traditionally.