Newsweek Series #16, 1991
War as a sophisticated expression of violence is a theme that runs through much of Francesc Torres’ work. If his fascination with speed and violence come from childhood memories, what was associated with play when he was a child here ends up being the subject of critical analysis in many of his installations, compositions and drawings as well. In the early 1980s, Torres picked up on images of luxury vehicles like Cadillacs and limousines, as well as army tanks, in his analysis of the behaviour of American culture. With a remarkable economy of means—these are coloured drawings—he explores the iconography of these kinds of machines, as they condense the militarism and institutionalised violence of Western civilization. With explicit references to the Spanish Civil War, he reveals the association between machine, speed, death and eroticism.
Technical details
- Original title:
- Newsweek Series #16
- Registration number:
- RT.0174
- Artist:
- Torres, Francesc
- Date created:
- 1991
- Fonds:
- MACBA Collection. Barcelona City Council long-term. Gift of Rafael Tous (in process of being incorporated)
- Object type:
- Photograph
- Media:
- Silver dye-bleach on polyester
- Dimensions:
- Tríptic. 170 x 375 cm. (height x width)
- Credits:
- MACBA Collection. Long-term loan of Barcelona City Council. Gift of Rafael Tous
- Copyright:
- © Francesc Torres, VEGAP, Barcelona
- It has accessibility resources:
- No
The MACBA Collection features Catalan, Spanish and international art and, although it includes works from the 1920s onwards, its primary focus is on the period between the 1960s and the present.
For more information on the work or the artist, please consult MACBA's Library. To request a loan of the work, please write to colleccio [at] macba.cat.
If you need a high resolution image of the work, you must submit an image loan request.
