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GROTESQUE AND SINISTER NEOBAROQUE IN CONTEMPORARY SPANISH PAINTING: A TERATOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE WORKS OF ENRIQUE MARTY AND SANTIAGO YDÁÑEZ

Abstract:

The pictorial universe of Enrique Marty and Santiago Ydáñez is characterized by a formal and thematic immersion into certain dark aspects of the human condition and the conscious deformation of their representation. The employment of a «teratological» approach as a methodological framework allows the analysis of the causes and interpretations of the presence of the grotesque and sinister elements within the artistic works of those artists. The objective is to relate various theoretical approaches from the realms of the grotesque, the uncanny, and the neobaroque to these painters, raising the question of the legitimacy of teratology in relation to certain contemporary Spanish painting. The conscious deformation of both the subject matter and the artwork itself is related to a neobaroque attitude, reflecting situations ranging from the subconscious to a critique of traditional cultural systems as well as of history and contemporaneity.