José Manuel Ciria (Manchester, England, 1960) is one of the contemporary Spanish artists who has most intensely championed the practice of painting. His personal approach to the plastic image originally stems from an attempt to reconcile geometric and gestural abstraction or, more recently, abstraction and figuration, in order to find a productive way out of the fin-de-siècle paralysis (or end of an era) that arises from information overload and the agonizing weight of a past that is impossible to exhaust.

Deeply rooted in abstract expressionism, Ciria's work has evolved toward what Donald Kuspit calls "abstract figuration" or, more accurately, "problematic abstraction." The central aim of Heads / Grids It is to explore how José Manuel Ciria's drive for abstraction, upon becoming aware of its historical nature and embracing its postmodern character, overcomes its limitations and gives rise to unconventional working methods. The fusion of geometric grids and gestural bursts releases an irresolvable tension that guarantees its artistic integrity, inevitably engaging the viewer.

This catalogue is complemented by bilingual English/Spanish essays by art critics Donald Kuspit, Mark Van Proyen y Robert R. Shane.