SYNOPSIS.

      With this work the intention is to vindicate values that we consider important
although they are less and less often found in contemporary artistic expression. They are
the motivation behind the work of Antonio Marco Moles (Alquerías del Niño Perdido
(Castellón), 1929) and Vicente Perelló La Cruz (Valencia 1933-2008). These are two
artists who pushed forward against the tide and have been able to express in-depth and
through many-layered meaning their own very suggestive contribution to the work of
outlining the topography of the soul. Whilst maintaining their distance, one step
removed from fashionable aesthetic convulsions, from the ‘ism’s’ and from the labeled
and the superficial currents of their age they have focused their attention on the more
elevated aspects of the human spirit. Rising up against the artistic norms of these
perverse times where art is so often hitched to the bandwagons of technology and
market demand, where art is often no more than a reflection of the obtuse and banal
aspects of reality, theirs is a rebellion against an art world which has slowly but surely
lost its capacity to surprise or to resound in the depths of the spectator’s soul.
      These current times have witnessed the solid triumph of materialistic art, an art
which is generated daily but is mediocre and empty, and the slave of market interests.
This kind of art best expresses the industrialized and alienated feel of the times. It is
very refreshing and exciting to discover that there are creators who although aware that
the price they pay for their liberty is marginalization from the centre of the art world are
still prepared to oppose this reality and make the purpose of their work the creation of a
vital space in which to reflect and to discuss – very much in the spirit of Hegel who said
that great art is “..a question, an appeal to a heart that resonates, a light to animate and
encourage our spirits..” Any artist who is able to enrich our understanding of the world
enriches us, and these artists have demonstrated a capacity for deep philosophic
expression which is seated in an important social dimension. It is here that the principal
values of good art - experience, sincerity and expression - are united. They are prepared
to go out on a limb for freedom, resistance and for their utopic vision.
      The attitude of these two creators (originally colleagues at Belles Artes and later
firm friends) towards art and towards life is best defined as purely romantic. Their
work, marked by a violent expressiveness, is a manifestation of their sincere desire to
make patent the anxieties of their times along with their personal anxieties whilst, at the
same time, remaining loyal to the necessary spiritual values that are so often lacking in
contemporary art. These artists manage to keep alight the flame of social and critical
concerns. They are also conscious of the need to salvage the “I” from a world in which
there is a constant pressure to eliminate the individual subject, the particular obsession
of a Postmodern philosophy that is servile to the dominant system. Their artistic
proposal is then a romantic proposal for art and speaks through the language of
emotions that transforms it into an existential adventure.
      As this thesis demonstrates these two Humanist artists have adopted a stance that
clearly aligns them with “Existential Romanticism”, a movement which is an extension
of Romanticism, that artistic and philosophical movement that has had such importance
on all levels since the 19th century but particularly so in art. It is the movement that also
gave birth to Existentialism. As a consequence this work is an attempt to bind together
the formal and conceptual characteristics which bring these movements together via
expressionist mean. Expressionism is taken even further to include Romanticism which,
in reality, is nothing more than Humanism rising up to confront the corruption of the
world and to challenge values accepted by civilized society and to defy the complacent
consciousness of an apparently stable world by rebelling against institutionalization. It
is a re-vindication of the spiritual values that dignify humanity.
      The art of Marco and Perello is thus converted into in-depth one of the most
recent reflections of Romantic Existentialism and is especially concerned with the
subjective “I”. It is a reflection of a doctrine for action, for freedom and for commitment
that is expressed as Humanism. As we have seen, their great capacity for introspection
and inner searching is coupled with a constant restlessness of spirit and an enduring
dissatisfaction. Their tenacious spirit, intent on continually overcoming obstacles and
their persevering thirst for truth are complemented by the vigor of their expression, their
fantastic imaginations and their aesthetic and ethical rebellion. Taken as a whole they
are authentic examples of Post-Romantic Expressionism.