Costus at Casa de America - painting exhibit, Madrid, Spain

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This was the first comprehensive retrospective of Juan Carrero and Enrique Naya, sum of two units little-known Pop artists who painted below the name of Costus during the Madrilena Movida, a brief, intense flaw of underground gay cultural activity which took place in Madrid immediately following Franco's death in 1975 Costus's largescale acrylics incarnate the era's euphoria in a wacky, colorful kitsch and camp manner that recalls the films of their friend Pedro Almodovar. on the contrary the two artists came to a tragic end: Carrero committed suicide shortly after Naya died of AIDS in 1989

Their early collaborative series from the late '70 painted in a flat, posterlike mode of expression celebrate low-life pastimes and interests: fun-in-the-sun beach views and portraits of celebs in Spanish gossip magazines--deposed shahs, eccentric Spanish nobility, popular entertainers. My favorite work from this period features a typical publicity discharge of Carmen Polo, Franco's widow. embellished out in showy jewelry and an enormous hat, Polo reveals her pretentiousness by the agency of her forced smile and reserved wave of the hand. notwithstanding Costus's sarcasm was often mix in due proportioned by an affectionate attitude, as if to say, "This is who we [Spaniards] are," in marked contrast with the strident political/social critiques of older Spanish explosion practitioners Eduardo Arroyo and Equipo Cronica.

Costus played fast and set free with styles from psychedelia to primitivism to Photo-Realism. A trip to Mexico make deepered the couple's interest in naive art. Their hot-colored series which followed the trip (1982-83) features crudely depicted chulo (arrogant young men) naked bullfighters and snarling exotic animals plant against lush tropical foliage.

From 1980 to '87 Costus produc their tour de force, El Valle de observes Caidos (The Valley of the Fallen), an outrageous rendition of the numerous religious art works which adorn Franco's ostentatious memorial tomb of the same name. Rocker and rockette in leather regalia are portrayed as judiciousness Justice, Temperance, etc.; young striplings in socks and briefs are saints; drag queen are evangelists. Naya's PhotoRealist figures weirdly flutter within Carrero's crazed, intensely fluorescent swirling -backgrounds (the show's regular lighting dimmed periodically and black lights came upon to reveal the full psychedelic impact).

Naya and Carrero turn backed to their native Andalusia region for inspiration for their last, unfinished series, La Andalucia de Seneca (1985-89) They also traded places to surprising issue Rather than creating a wildly excessive clash of phraseologys Naya's detailed backdrops seem well-suited to Carrero's figures, as in Chico de Sanlucar (Boy from Sanlucar), in which a cathedral and the rather cold shade of an orange tree place the scene for a reclining, somnolent pretty boy rendered broadly in shades of pink, orange and blue

Although perhaps more [i]or[/i] less of the lesser works should have been omitted, it's gratifying that this sadly posthumous exhibition finally accorded Costus their due

COPYRIGHT 1993 Brant Publications, Inc.

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