Born in 1930 in Valencia, Juan Genovés was one of the finest contemporary artists to emerge from Spain Growing up during great political conflict in the country due to the fascist Franco regime, his works served as tools of dissent for the citizens of Spain He studied at the San Carlos Royal Academy of Fine Art and although he received formal training, he was not appreciative of the academic style of art prevalent during the time This would lead him to form the first (called the Seven) of many influential artists groups including Los Siete in 1949, Parpalló in 1956 and Hondo in 1960

Although he began to explore the idea of how the individual relates to masses as early as the 1960s, he came upon the style he is known for much later The early works were collages in relief to showcase a lone individual surrounded by masses created through plastic structure and flat ink This then evolved to become artworks that utilised images garnered from mass media which he then manipulated In the 1980s, he became preoccupied with his ‘spaces of solitude’ that dealt with urban landscapes that he showcased through a sombre colour palette 

After Franco’s passing in 1975, Genovés developed his signature style which depicts the tensions that can arise in crowds Depicted from an aerial view, these paintings are devoid of any elements of context or environment and lend an ethereal quality to its miniature figures These subjects created through the impasto technique seem to be frozen in time and are sometimes surrounded by randomly placed lines or paint splatter, lending to the frenzy of the work Granting viewers this view allows them to feel almost god-like and leaves the works to the viewer’s interpretation Small objects the artist finds also find their way onto these works 

Among the many awards he has received for his contribution to Spanish contemporary art, the most notable are the gold medal at the VI San Marino International Biennial in 1967, the International Marzotto Prize in 1968, the National Award for Fine Arts in 1984, the Award for Fine Arts of the Generalitat Valenciana in 2002 and the Gold Medal of Merit for Fine Arts from the Ministry of Culture in 2005