TENDERNESS IN GÓMEZ LÓPEZ’S AFFECTIVE UNIVERSE

The Madrid venue of Travesía Cuatro presents Tierno es el día que los demonios se alejan, a solo exhibition by Romeo Gómez López (Mexico City, Mexico, 1991), featuring a sequence of works that move away from his well-known practice of reappropriating elements of popular culture in order to subvert them and construct critical narratives addressing sexuality, violence, and the institutional framework of art.

For this occasion, the artist shifts his focus towards more delicate scenes, images in which tenderness and the pursuit of reconciliation appear to confront a violent reality. Sounds envelop a dollhouse based on the home in which he spent his childhood, linked to an exploration of interiority and domestic space, although the latter does not always function as a secure refuge. In this sense, the artist evokes, in El templo de la ternura perdida, readings of empathy’s absence as a potential origin of pain and tragedy.

Several works incorporate references to industrial and cinematic culture. This is the case of Metrópolis, which reimagines the year 2026 in bronze as a landscape of ruin and global conflict, and My Little Pony / My Little Brony, a marble sculpture that delves into the emotional registers of adult fan culture, emphasizing through affective figures the need for identity and belonging.

A self-portrait of Gómez López inside a space helmet introduces a playful yet provocative gesture that contrasts with the presumed seriousness of a science-fiction aesthetic often framed as solemn. Meanwhile, other works, such as Prehistoric Love, propose a reflection on reconciliation with the past and childhood as a possible means of alleviating pain through empathy, play, and collective acceptance.

Tierno es el día que los demonios se alejan can be visited until 18 July 2026 at Travesía Cuatro, San Mateo 16, Madrid, Spain.