Ivan Franco

Works
Bibliography
Ivan Franco

Iván Franco

Ourense, Spain, 1979

Artistic Statement
The imagery presented in my work doesn’t aim to represent reality, truth, falsehood, or even the imaginary. Instead, it seeks to emphasize meaning through the concept of the simulacrum. In this context, the materiality of the artwork transcends its narrative (the sign), becoming more significant than the content it conveys. The artwork becomes an object in itself, where the importance lies not in what is represented but in the sense that emerges from the simulacrum.

The goal is not to distinguish the real from the unreal but to use the mechanisms of reality to question existence itself. The image cannot exist as true anywhere else, like a simulacrum. As Baudrillard discusses in “Simulacra and Simulation”, referencing the divine simulacrum: “This is precisely what was feared by Iconoclasts, whose millennial quarrel is still with us today. They predicted this omnipotence of simulacra, the faculty simulacra have of effacing God from the conscience of man, and the destructive, annihilating truth that they allow to appear – that deep down God never existed, that only the simulacrum ever existed, even that God himself was never anything but his own simulacrum.”

My work fundamentally explores the notion of contemplation, delving into our need to identify and understand reality. If the recognition of the simulacrum challenges the survival of reality, then the simulacrum is not a mask hiding the truth, but the truth itself—revealing that there is none beyond it.

“The simulacrum is never what hides the truth – it is truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true.”
— Ecclesiastes

CV
SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • Focal Distance, Arcadia Contemporary, New York, USA (2023)
  • ONE AND THREE POLAROIDS, Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2022)
  • H0, Piramidón Centre d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain (2018)
  • Contact Sheet, Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2017)
  • True and False, Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2015)
  • Ideografías, Portal 48 Gallery, Pontevedra, Spain (2014)
  • Significantes Simulados, Art Gallery Puerto de la Cruz, Caja Canarias, Puerto de la Cruz, Spain (2009)

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • New Portraits, Alzueta Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2024)
  • Sota Un Mateix Cel, Castillo de Benedormiens, Piramidón Centre d’Art Contemporani, Girona, Spain (2023)
  • Mod-Portrait 2020, MEAM, Barcelona, Spain (2021)
  • Càpsules De Confinament: Art I Pandèmia A Catalunya, Museu Can Framis, Fundació Vila Casas, Barcelona, Spain (2020)
  • Premi De Fotografia 2020, Museu Palau Solterra, Torroella de Montgrí, Fundació Vila Casas, Girona, Spain (2020)
  • 2020_n1, Piramidón, Centre d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain (2020)
  • Realismo Español Contemporáneo, Hoki Museum, Chiba, Japan (2019)
  • 20th Anniversary, Galerie Arcturus, Paris, France (2019)
  • Booth Alb, Galerie ALB, Paris, France (2019)
  • Mod-Portrait 2018, Sala de Exposiciones Edificio Bantierra, Zaragoza / MEAM, Barcelona, Spain (2019)
  • Modportrait 2017, IACC Pablo Serrano, Zaragoza / MEAM, Barcelona, Spain (2018)
  • 2018_n3, Piramidón, Centre d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain (2018)
  • 2017_n3, Piramidón, Centre d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain (2017)
  • Un Face À Face Espagnol. Miguel Macaya – Iván Franco, Galerie Arcturus, Paris, France (2017)
  • BP Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK (2016)
  • À Dessein, Galerie Binôme, Paris, France (2016)
  • Realitats, Pigment Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (2016)
  • 25 Al Quadrat, Piramidón, Centre d’Art Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain (2015)
  • No Más De 18, Galería Metro, Santiago de Compostela, Spain (2015)
  • Premio Internacional De Pintura Guasch Coranty, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Tecla Sala, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain (2015)
  • II Concurso De Retrato Internacional Mod-Portrait, Sala de Exposiciones Bantierra, Zaragoza, Spain (2015)
  • I Concurso De Retrato Internacional Mod-Portrait, Sala de Exposiciones Bantierra, Zaragoza, Spain (2014)
  • VIII Premio Auditorio De Galicia Para Novos Artistas, Auditorio de Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, Spain (2014)

ART FAIRS

  • LA Art Show 2024, Arcadia Contemporary, Los Angeles, USA (2024)
  • Five and Under, Arcadia Contemporary, New York, USA (2023)
  • Seattle Art Fair, Arcadia Contemporary, Seattle, USA (2023)
  • LA Art Show 2023, Arcadia Contemporary, Los Angeles, USA (2023)
  • Zona Maco, Alzueta Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico (2023)
  • Five and Under, Arcadia Contemporary, New York, USA (2022)
  • LA Art Show 2022, Arcadia Contemporary, Los Angeles, USA (2022)
  • Art on Paper 2021, Arcadia Contemporary, New York, USA (2021)
  • JUSTMAD, Alzueta Gallery, Madrid, Spain (2020)
  • Art Miami, Alzueta Gallery, Miami, USA (2019)
  • Art Paris Art Fair, Galerie ALB, Paris, France (2017)
  • ArtMadrid, Alzueta Gallery, Madrid, Spain (2017)
  • ArtMadrid, Alzueta Gallery, Madrid, Spain (2016)
  • Art Élysées, Alzueta Gallery, Paris, France (2015)
  • Slick Art Fair, Galerie Binôme, Paris, France (2015)

AWARDS

  • Mod-Portrait 2020, Sala de Exposiciones Bantierra, Zaragoza, Spain (Honorable Mention) (2020)
  • Mod-Portrait 2018, Sala de Exposiciones Bantierra, Zaragoza, Spain (Honorable Mention) (2018)
  • Mod-Portrait 2017, Sala de Exposiciones Bantierra, Zaragoza, Spain (Honorable Mention) (2017)
  • II Concurso de Retrato Internacional Mod-Portrait, Sala de Exposiciones Bantierra, Zaragoza, Spain (Honorable Mention) (2015)
  • I Concurso de Retrato Internacional Mod-Portrait, Sala de Exposiciones Bantierra, Zaragoza, Spain (Honorable Mention) (2014)
  • Beca Maria Josepa Giner, Galeria Anquin’s, Reus (2012)
  • XI Premio de Fotografía Área de Artes Plásticas Universidad de Murcia, Universidad de Murcia, Spain (First Honorable Mention) (2011)
  • Becas Roberto Villagraz, Escuela de fotografía EFTI, Madrid, Spain (Finalist)
  • XXVII Certamen de Pintura Concello de Cambre