Girbent

Smoke

2021

Girbent was born in Sóller (Balearic Islands) in 1969. In 1986 he enrolled in the Faculty of Fine Arts in Barcelona. He soon dropped out of the university and for a time allowed himself to be seen in the bohemian atmospheres of the Mediterranean city. During this period he devoted himself to watching movies and reading, especially essays and philosophy. In 1989 he traveled to the extinct GDR and managed to enroll in the famous Leizpig Art Academy, where he met Neo Rauch and met M. Weischer and T. Baumgartel. The fall of the Berlin Wall surprises him in Leizpig. In 1990 he exhibited his first paintings in the collective exhibition The Wall, in an alternative space in Berlin. Simultaneously, he explored the world of comics and illustration by publishing (both comics and covers) in the best magazines in the world, such as Totem and Zona 84 in Spain, El Eternauta in Italy or Metal Hurlant in the US. A year later he left Germany and he travels to Mexico City, where he explores the possibilities of video, recording in the places frequented by the Infrarealists, such as the "Quito" café on Bucarelli street (where he seems to still perceive the swarm of the spirits of Roberto Bolaño and Mario Santiago). In Mexico he continues to read compulsively, but his interest has shifted from essays to literature (Borges, Gadda, Joyce...) At the same time, his interest in video art and experimental cinema is growing. He spends the years 1992 and 1993 in the Yucatan peninsula, installed first in Mérida and then in Valladolid. After what he considers his Mexican stage of reflection, he decides to return to his native Mallorca to devote himself to painting. Girbent nace en Sóller (Islas Baleares) en 1969. En 1986 se matricula en la Facultad de Bellas Artes en Barcelona. Pronto abandona la universidad y durante un tiempo se deja ver por los ambientes bohemios de la ciudad mediterránea. Durante este periodo se dedica a ver cine y a leer, sobre todo ensayo y filosofía. En 1989 viaja a la extinta RDA y consigue matricularse en la célebre Academia de Arte de Leizpig, donde conoce a Neo Rauch y coincide con M. Weischer y T. Baumgartel. La caída del muro de Berlín le sorprende en Leizpig. En 1990 exhibe sus primeras pinturas en la exposición colectiva The Wall, en un espacio alternativo de Berlín. Simultáneamente, explora el mundo del cómic y la ilustración publicando (tanto historietas como portadas) en las mejores revistas del mundo, como Totem y Zona 84 en España, El Eternauta en Italia o Metal Hurlant en EE.UU. Un año después abandona Alemania y viaja a México DF, donde explora las posibilidades del vídeo, grabando en los lugares que frecuentaron los Infrarrealistas, como el café «Quito» de la calle Bucarelli (donde le parece percibir todavía el pulular de los espíritus de Roberto Bolaño y Mario Santiago). En México sigue leyendo compulsivamente ...mas en condecontemporary punto com.