“I was immediately captivated by his tireless ability to transform and mutate images. An heir to pop art and a form of abstraction uniquely his own, Luis Gordillo’s painting is singular. While it can be related to artists who preceded or followed him, Gordillo’s images are always unique […] Artists from different generations engage in perfect dialogue with Gordillo’s timeless work […] Spaces between forms and figures, distances, rhythms, and the musical echoes of jazz converge in this exhibition, offering a solid and necessary timeless vision of drawing.”

– Carmen Giménez reflects on the exhibition Luis in friendly company 

carlier | gebauer, Madrid, is pleased to present Luis in friendly company, a joyful journey through the distinct stages of life and forms of expression, filled of entertaining encounters with fictional travel companions and creative accomplices.

With works by Luis Gordillo, Philip Guston, Uwe Lausen, Julie Mehretu, Néstor Sanmiguel Diest, Thomas Scheibitz, and Amy Sillman, the group exhibition is devoted entirely to drawing: its rhythms, resistances, and radical possibilities.

Gordillo emerges here not only as a precursor to many contemporary approaches to drawing, but as an artist deeply embedded in a dense network of aesthetic exchange. Luis in friendly company is an invitation to look closely at how drawing functions not just as a preparatory act or a automatic, private gesture, but as a fully realized, autonomous language — one that connects generations, geographies, and sensibilities in a shared visual rhythm.

On the occasion of Apertura Madrid carlier | gebauer celebrates, together with Prats Nogueras Blanchard the work of Luis Gordillo with two parallel exhibitions.