Cruz Novillo

The CentroCentro cultural space is hosting an exhibition from 8 October to 24 January 2027 that offers a non-linear journey through the work of the artist José María Cruz Novillo, better known as Cruz Novillo, and includes series of works from the mid-sixties to pieces produced in 2025.

Curated by Pepe Cruz-Novillo jr. and Elena Fernández Manrique, the exhibition is structured around the concepts upon which Novillo develops his aesthetic and conceptual research: reflection on geometry and arithmetic, colour, time, sound and play.

The exhibition brings together a selection of sculptures in wood, stone and bronze, and each work by Cruz Novillo gives rise to research that moves from two-dimensional to three-dimensional and, consequently, works on paper, two-dimensional collages and sculptures emerge from each series.

This exhibition aims to highlight the plurality and complexity of the artist's work, linking current productions with his earliest series. In this way, historical pieces such as the Manipulable Structures and those that formed part of his solo presentation in the Spanish Pavilion at the 1977 São Paulo Art Biennial, Tximpart a and Coupling, enter into dialogue with recently produced pieces such as, for example, the Decaphonic digit diaphragm cycle for the National Statistics Institute, one of his most relevant works for public space, which combines mathematics in its statistical branch, colour and the music of the decaphonic scale. Begun in 2007 for the building's facade, this series continued to generate pieces until 2025 under the author's guidance.

Documentary and archival material illustrating the artist's working process can also be seen. In these models and preparatory drawings, the artist investigates the development of an idea and its derivatives across different scales, colours, materials and supports. Writings, photographs and publications are also incorporated in display cases.