Opening of “Coup de Grâce” by Pancake

As part of its monographic exhibits, La Plataforma, gallery of contemporary art and production studio, presents Coup de Grâce the latest exhibition by the artist Pancake. 

Ninety years ago Hemingway published The Sun also Rises, a novel about the decline of folkloric culture in mediterranean Europe. At the heart of which was the life and death of the matador – the hyperbolic parody of civilisation versus barbarism and masculinity versus the absurd. It became an all consuming cultural obsession across continents and political ideologies because it represented loss, anxiety and friction in a world that was on the cusp of totalitarian warfare.

But where is he now? When the roars of the crowd get quiet, when the glory fades — what’s left of a hero when heroism goes pasé? Like all of us, he struggles with adjusting to everyday’s melancholy — the shadowy periphery of existence. And this is where we meet him, in the half-life that exists outside of the spotlight.

Coup de Grâce, is a term term refers to the final blow that puts a fatally wounded bull out of its misery. As a consequence, the old French expression is also commonly used to describe an action or event that destroys or finishes something. 

In this series of collages, I’m portraying a bullfighter whose career and legacy have ended. Like the moon, he depends on the sun’s light to “shine”. When removed from the spotlight, the matador is nobody. He is a man refusing to let go, only surviving on the thought that he was once “the greatest”.

The exhibit opens the upcoming Thursday 21st of April and will count with the artist’s presence, music by a DJ and Inedit by Estrella Damm. 

The exhibit will run till the 26th of May. 

PANCAKE (AKA PER HENRIK ADOLFSSON) 

Per Henrik Adolfsson, also known as Pancake, is a contemporary illustrator born in Sweden, currently living and working in Barcelona, Spain.

Pancake is mixing photographs, drawings, cut-outs from old magazines and bits and pieces from stumbled-upon stock archives to create surrealistic dreamscapes.

His collages tend to have a certain darkness about them, but always with a contrasting side which let in a sense of humor or absurdity. Adolfsson’s main ambition with his artwork is to create unheard of, unvisited places, still-frames of inexistent photographs or films that only his imagination can direct.

“Coup de Grâce” by Pancake

Opening: 21.04.2016

La Plataforma, Art Gallery and production studio
Pujades 99, baixos 2
08005 Barcelona