Twenty years have passed since I first saw Paco Pomet’s work (Granada, 1970) in the wonderful Sala Rivadavia in Cádiz. Twenty years of teamwork, with all the emotions, the ups and the downs, he appeared just when he was most needed.

With his first exhibition in Madrid titled “Un nuevo desorden” (A New Disorder) 2006, in some sense, the gallery’s immediate future was anticipated, and a year later, with yet another prophetic title, “Huracanes de plástico” (Plastic Hurricanes), he opened his second solo exhibition at My Name’s Lolita’s Valencia space.

In 2007, Paco Pomet’s international popularity was unexpectedly fuelled by “the new disorder” with the gallery’s unjust expulsion from ARCO, Spain’s largest international art fair. As a result, the artist only had the opportunity to participate twice at ARCO, unlike his gallery colleagues, who had been able to develop their careers under the fair’s auspices since 1991.

Though the initial result of this was an enormous wave of recognition across Spain, in just a few years that recognition spread far beyond Spain’s shores. And while others abandoned ship in the midst of the storm, Paco Pomet stood firm, helping to keep the gallery afloat until the storm had passed.

Over the years, Paco Pomet’s work has matured through his ingenuity, excellence, and honesty. At first, he was deluged with criticisms, some suggesting that his work was too similar to other acclaimed artists, something that Pomet always rejected and which he disproved with the strong personal style that he has carved out. His reluctance to present exhibitions with strongly defined conceptual ideas is also well-known, perhaps to avoid over-using narratives. This is why his solo exhibitions offer the viewer such varied, seemingly unconnected discourses, in which old photography, landscapes, or comic book characters blend with destroyed cities or impossible lakes in a highly personal and unique creative enigma.

While avoiding explicit ideologies, cheap parody and dogmatism in his paintings, for almost two decades Pomet has managed to bring to the fore gender issues, the horrors of war, the environment, and complex human relationships. In his work, we see a contemporary activism that is at once subtle, intentional, and interspersed with comic touches, yet always remaining powerful. His paintings exude the excellence of his technique, replete with an unequalled and magnificently nuanced colour palette.

With this ironic title of his solo exhibition, That’s all folks, the artist presents us with twelve recently completed oil-on-canvas paintings, which elegantly encapsulate everything mentioned above and with this, a shared chapter is concluded.

A passionate music lover, with a mighty intellect and that Granada accent; with these words I have the honour of raising an anniversary toast to you and your family, thanking you for everything you have contributed to the gallery’s journey. —Ramón García Alcaraz