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onzalo Goytisolo (Barcelona, 1966) has found his niche in portraiture. He is a virtuous and recognized painter, who has exhibited in some of Barcelona's most traditional and renowned galleries, such as Sala Parés or Fundación Vila Casas. He has a long and solid career, always as a figurative artist, which includes spectacular cityscapes and portraits, many portraits.
He considers himself a mercenary of art. "In the world of contemporary creation where the notion of constant renewal prevails, I dedicate myself to the most old-fashioned genre that exists, the commissioned portrait," Goytisolo excuses himself. But his portraits of businessmen, politicians, and bourgeois families of Barcelona are, in addition to a noble way of earning a living, a necessary testimony of a society and an era. His palette has seen well-known politicians such as José Montilla, Celestino Corbacho, or Jorge Fernández Díaz with his family, businessmen such as Josep Vilarasau, Ricard Fornesa, or Juan Rosell, and writers such as Juan Marsé, Pere Gimferrer, or Juan Goytisolo.
Son of Luis, nephew of Juan and José Agustín, he belongs to one of the most notable sagas of Hispanic letters. The all-powerful agent Carmen Balcells commissioned a portrait from him in 1994. "Out of affection," says Gonzalo. He took a few photos of her sitting at a table in the agency. She had very little time for the session and her knees were starting to bother her at that time. So he sat her at a table that turned out to be the same one she used to climb on as a child to dance in front of her family. And now the same table served to cover legs that were beginning to falter. "These things happen," assures the painter, who used to prepare "scenographies" to photograph his subjects but lately prefers reality to surprise him.
Goytisolo cites some names, such as Marcos Palazzi, Xavier Rodés, Xevi Solà, Josep Segú, the Santilari brothers; friends and colleagues of his generation. And he assures that there is a very powerful Barcelona brand, but that it needs support and impulse. There are many exponents of a new realism that should be promoted and exported.