The Spanish graphic artist, painter and sculptor Juan Genovés, who is also known as Juan Genovés Llambias, Juan Genovés Candel or Joan Genovés, is regarded a main representative of a new political Realism in the 1960s and 1970s, in terms of style he is close to Pop Art and Photorealism.
Juan Genovés was born in Valencia in 1930. His family had a predisposition to art: His father was Juan Genovés Cubells, graphic artist and artisan, his uncle Vincent ran a furniture workshop where Juan Genovés discovered his talent at an early point in life.
The young Juan Genovés Candel began an apprenticeship at the Escuela de Peritos Industriales in1944, where acquired various gravure printing methods. In 1946 Juan Genovés enrolled at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos de Valencia. After he had completed his studies, Juan Genovés Llambias joined the artist group "Los Siete" in 1949. The artist association was close to the Informel.
After he had spent some time in monastery on a scholarship (1951, El Paular in Segovia) Juan Genovés moved to Madrid where he had his own studio as of 1958. From there Juan Genovés visited Paris for the first time in 1955, another study trip in 1959 took Juan Genovés to France, Holland and Belgium.
Works from Juan Genovés' early period of creation are gestural-abstract, however, he had first doubts in abstraction as early as in the 1950s. These doubts led to the formation of the "Grupo Hondo" in 1961, which rejected the Informel and postulated a new figuration. The group broke up in 1963, but that did not stop Juan Genovés Llambias to spread his ideas among his artist colleagues over the course of the 1960s. For instance in context of the association "Crónica de la Realidad", which was critical of the regime.
The political-realistic, highly suggestive works by Juan Genovés often made the "Mass" a subject and must be seen as a means of revolt against the political situation in Spain. Juan Genovés Candel, who was a member of the Spanish Communist Party, personally suffered under repression from the Franco regime. The times of political turmoil in the late 1960s and in the 1970s were the heyday of Juan Genovés' international reception.
His creation was not limited to paintings only, he increased the panel paintings with everyday objects and also created reliefs. His usage of serial techniques (stencil, spray gun) puts Joan Genovés' style near Pop Art and also Photorealism.
Works by Joan Genovés are in possession of renowned international museums, such as the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York or the ‘Museum für Moderne Kunst’ in Frankfurt am Main. Juan Genovés lives and works in Madrid.