Double recognition That of a whole generation of creative women. And that of the weaving technique as a language, as a code, as, in the words of the artist herself, "an art relevant to life". The 2023 National Plastic Arts Award, granted by the Ministry of Culture and Sport and endowed with 30,000 euros, has gone to the tapestries of Teresa Lanceta (1951) from Barcelona, who last year was the subject of a major retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona and at the IVAM in Valencia curated by Nuria Enguita and Laura Vallés.
Lanceta, unlike other artists who have used fabric and its techniques to transfer it to contemporary art, wanted to show directly that fabrics were works of art, that art is in the so-called beautiful arts, but also to what is popular, to handicrafts and to the considered minor arts, so that it eschews the discourse that separates artistic objects from everyday life.
From the coexistence with the Berber women of the Middle Atlas he learned a universal art that has accompanied him throughout his career and he understood the importance of repeating structures and geometries in the popular arts of many continents and in the avant-gardes of the century 20th The Raval neighborhood of Barcelona, where he spent his formative years, has also marked his life and his work: there he shared experiences with the gypsy community and from here emerges the need to talk about the broken and the patches, but also of the relevance of popular knowledge and experiences and of life in common.
The jury of the National of Plastic Arts has recognized Lanceta "for a sustained artistic practice over time that rescues a feminine, vernacular and collective language". "Awarding Lanceta is to recognize a generation of women, the technique of weaving as a language, a primitive code of humanity far from the patriarchal through which it has come into contact with the cultures of various groups such as the Romani population, the weavers Moroccan nomads or the neighbors of the Raval", they assessed. And they added that "Lanceta reviews the modern idea of authorship and directs its practice towards collaborative formats. Artistic traditions and ways of life with which he has maintained a dialogue through tapestries, paintings, drawings and his theorizing. Both his practice and the questions he raises have a great reception among the artists of subsequent generations.
With a degree in History from the University of Barcelona and a PhD in Art History from the Complutense University of Madrid, Teresa Lanceta has taught at the Alicante School of Architecture and the Massana School.
