Carmen Calvo
Lives and works in her hometown, Valencia.
She has participated in major exhibitions such as New Images from Spain at the Guggenheim Museum in New York (1980), ARCO with the Fernando Vijande Gallery (1982) and the Venice Biennale in 1997 alongside Joan Brossa.
In 2003, the Reina Sofía Museum dedicated a monographic exhibition to her at the Palacio de Velázquez.
In 2013, she received the National Prize for Plastic Arts.
In 2014, she was named an academic of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Carlos in Valencia.
In 2016, she exhibited at the Sala Alcalá 31, Madrid.
In 2019, she received the Carmen Alborch Prize.
In 2019, at Kubo-Kutxa Donostia.
In 2020, she was awarded the Julio González International Prize by the IVAM in Valencia. To mark this award, in 2022 the IVAM presented a major solo exhibition.
In 2023, she will exhibit at the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, curated by Emmanuel Guigon and Victoria Combalía.
In 2025, she received the Ramon Llull Prize.
In the 1970s, Carmen Calvo began one of the most personal journeys in Spanish art. Her training in fine arts and the world of pottery led her to subvert the codes and treat clay as if it were painting or sculpture. Fascinated by archaeology, she places small moulds or various objects as archaeologists do. Her collections on shelves, very personal installations, also show plaster or gypsum forms whose austerity is reminiscent of Morandi. Her photographs, manipulated with objects or paint, constitute a lucid social critique of post-war Spain, its repressive institutions and its moral constraints.
His work also stands out for the permanent interventions he carries out in public buildings.
Access to a video made by the Picasso Museum in Barcelona about the Carmen Calvo exhibition in 2023.
Access to the video A Conversation, by Espai Carmen Calvo
Access to a video of Carmen Calvo's exhibition at the IVAM in 2022