Works by Gonzalo Sáez Díaz-Merry
I currently work in a rather pop style with a touch of surrealism. My iconography is made up of all kinds of cultural and mass media references present in the collective unconscious (brands, characters, objects or texts) although decontextualised, to give them a new meaning through the dialogue created between them. Among these icons, those that refer to my childhood, or even lately to my children's tastes, prevail. Eroticism with a certain air of naivety is also common. I seek to awaken the viewer's imagination through the decontextualisation of the characters and the apparent incongruity of the representation so that opposing feelings arise from the title of the work and the iconography used. They may bring up memories of their childhood or be attracted by the eroticism of a glance, they may discover beauty in violent scenes or laugh when deciphering the contradictions of my works. My works show a clear influence of British and American Pop Art from the 50s and 60s, Richard Hamilton, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Rauschenberg, Spanish artists such as Equipo Crónica, Antonio de Felipe, Óscar Seco or other international artists such as Banksy, Takashi Murakami or Yue minjun. The influence of illustrators like Milo Manara or Alberto Vargas is also evident. In my works I mix Pop Art and Surrealism in equal parts. I decontextualise popular culture and mass media icons, giving them a new meaning through the dialogue that is created between them. I tend to mix childhood memories with my children's tastes, although sometimes I also like to add a touch of eroticism combined with a certain naivety. I look for inspiration in everything around me. Cinema, music, television, classics from literature or cartoons, comics or advertising. I start with a very simple question: What would happen if...? And I let the characters talk to each other in an unexpected scenario.
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