Azulejos de Granada 1994

Joan Hernandez Pijuan created "Azulejos de Granada," a work evocative of tile patterns, though its exact creation date is unknown. Pijuan, born in post-Civil War Spain, navigated a cultural landscape scarred by authoritarianism and censorship, and this context deeply shaped his artistic practice. His art seeks to extract the essence of the Spanish landscape. His aesthetic is defined by simplicity and abstraction. The patterns might evoke the rich decorative traditions of Moorish Spain, but they also hint at the fragmented nature of memory and cultural identity. The tiles, traditionally symbols of domestic space and cultural heritage, are rendered here in a way that feels both familiar and distant. The tiles can almost seem like fragmented memories, reflecting the complex relationship between personal experience and collective history. Through the blue shapes, Pijuan encourages us to contemplate the interplay between tradition and modernity, and the ever-evolving nature of cultural identity.