More than 36 years after heading for the great military dictatorship in the sky, General Francisco Franco proved his enduring pulling power by stealing the show at last week’s annual ARCO contemporary art fair, appearing in a fridge and as a fast-spinning bust; even his eyebrows were a big draw. Siempre Franco (Forever Franco) was the star attraction at the five-day artfest, a life-size hyperrealist representation of the man who ruled Spain with an iron fist for four decades. The piece was created by Eugenio Merino out of resin, silicon, and human hair, and was decked out in Franco’s trademark green military uniform with purple sash, red cummerbund, and dark sunglasses, crouching inside a … [Read more...] about Franco in a fridge: he pulls in the punters, but is he art?
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Spain turns right, but where’s the far right?
Viewed in a certain light - and especially through a myopic leftist lens - the centre-right Popular Party's landslide victory on the anniversary of Franco's death could be seen as an ironic twist of fate, a disquieting rise of the phoenix: The party was, after all, founded by a former minister in Franco’s government and many of its elderly voters were supporters of the regime. Now the PP, led by Mariano Rajoy (who, ironically enough, was born less than 100 kilometres from Franco's birthplace in Galicia in north-western Spain), will have sweeping powers to pass laws and institute reforms. In the run-up to election day, no one wanted to make too obvious the link between the dates - … [Read more...] about Spain turns right, but where’s the far right?
March 11’s divisive legacy
In the middle of February, the Spanish government announced that it was going to “repair” the memory of the poet Miguel Hernández, a Republican former goatherd who was jailed by the dictator Francisco Franco and died in prison in 1942, at the age of 31. The Socialist government pledged to offer Hernández, whose centenary is being celebrated this year, “the tribute, the memory and the admiration that his work merits,” said Deputy Prime Minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega. “We all share that same rejection of any form of oppression, that same rebellion in the face of injustice and that determination to dream and create a decent country and a better world.” The news of this homage … [Read more...] about March 11’s divisive legacy