Castillo, Jorge.
Works of the artist.
Jorge Castillo Casalderrey was born in Pontevedra en 1933, although he spent his childhood in Argentina where his father had to emigrate for political reasons [+]
Castillo, Jorge
Jorge Castillo Casalderrey was born in Pontevedra en 1933, although he spent his childhood in Argentina where his father had to emigrate for political reasons.
An accident led Castillo to work in the mechanical industry, where he learned about technical drawing and where he started reading about contemporary painting. In 1950, Castillo slowly began to paint, while becoming friends with notable galicians that lived in Buenos Aires, such as Laxeiro, Manuel Colmeiro Guimarás and Luis Seoane. In 1958, already settled back in Spain, he became friends with Juana Mordó, who was at the time in charge of Biosca Gallery. However, after living in Barcelona for a bit, he moved to Paris and met Marienza Binetti, who became the subject of a lot of his portraits. At the end of the 60s his work made its way to the rest of Europe and New York. His large triptych entitled Palomares, depicting the atomic bomb Americans lost in the mediterranean, became highly renowned.
In 1969 he was invited to work in Berlin for a year, where he made different paintings, engravings and sculptures. Throughout the 60s, Castillo’s work was wordly known, allowing him to exhibit in various international galleries.
In 1977, Wrner Haftman wrote Castillo's first monograph. His name also appeared in the writings of other renown historians, such as Ratcliff.
In 1982 Marlborough Gallery of New York became his official representative.
In his hometown, Pontevedra, a special room was dedicated to him during the celebration of the Biennal in 1988. Both Marlborough Gallery and Meadows Museum in Dallas (Texas) dedicated big exhibitions to his work, which were later repeated in Barcelona and Santiago de Compostela during the 1990s.
Artworks by Jorge Castillo belong to the collections of important museums from all over the world, such as the Guggenheim in New York, the city in which he established his residency and studio. His sculptures are located in multiple public places throughout cities of western Europe, while Santiago de Compostela will host a permanent museum dedicated to his career.
His work is closely linked to surrealism, although it also represents a very personal hyperrealism.
