The San Roque Contemporary Art Centre (CAC) is located in the Old City Hall in the Plaza de Armas Square, in the historical centre of San Roque.

Plaza de Armas s/n
Tel: 956 780 106 extensión 2405
E-mail: actividades.museo@sanroque.es
Coordinates: 36.209534747953285, -5.383907537222915
Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday (10am–2pm); Saturday and Sunday (10am–2pm/5pm–8pm)

The CAC will house the works of two universal San Roque-born artists in completely different spaces, an Andrés Vázquez de Sola exhibition and a Carlos Pacheco exhibition.

Andrés Vázquez de Sola (1927)

The exhibition that has just opened features the pictorial work of artist Vázquez de Sola, full of humour and wit. The visit is arranged in rooms around a common thread: portraits with a description of a person that includes their character, habits and actions, which provides the opportunity for the San Roque creator to investigate the ins and outs of the portrayed public figures.

His works are arranged in three rooms.

The first room, on the ground floor, is dedicated to people from the Gibraltar Area, characters who tell stories about the region through their own lives portrayed with humour and love. Artists, intellectuals, musicians, writers, from different eras. From historical figures such as Luis de Lacy, José Cadalso, Francisco María Tubino or Juan Domingo de Mena, to the 20th century with Juan Luis Galiardo, Carlos Castilla del Pino, Paco de Lucía or Carlos Pacheco, among many others.

The second and third rooms are located on the first floor and are adjacent. They offer a walk through historical eras with the legendary characters created by the ingenuity of Vázquez de Sola.

His works are full of colour, imbued with a sense of humour, through which we can delve into the human soul, the one that we are made up of, with our strengths and flaws. A story told through portraits, a mirror in which to look at ourselves and recognise ourselves. But not with sadness or seriousness, but through laughter, which dismantles and demolishes the walls that separate us.

The San Roque artist says that “Humour is the ability to laugh at the world whilst we look in the mirror.” Seen in this way, laughter is an effective therapy, a powerful tool against repression, laughter breaks down walls, sneaks between the bars of the cells and is impossible to chain up. Laughter is a powerful weapon of mass destruction against the injustices of this world, Vázquez de Sola takes us on a journey to a purer world.

Facts about Andrés Vázquez de Sola:

Born in San Roque, on 25th July 1927, Andrés Vázquez de Sola Domingo stands out as one of the great graphic humourists of the 20th century. Specialised in satirical press, his career took him beyond area to Granada, Madrid and Paris.

After his difficult beginnings in the French capital, feeling cold and sleeping under bridges, his satirical work “The Great Francoist Bullfight” led him to publish in Le Canard Enchainé. This was the starting point for his recognition as one of the most outstanding Andalusians in satirical drawing.

In 1985 he retired for good from journalistic work and dedicated himself to painting colourful medium and large format portraits and holding monographic exhibitions, without forgetting to mention the more than thirty books that he has published.

Carlos Pacheco (1961-2022)

Carlos Pacheco Perujo was born in San Roque on 14th November 1960.

Although he began his career as a biology graduate, he soon turned his attention to his great passion: the world of comics.

He worked for DC Comics USA and Marvel Comics USA & UK, the world-famous comic book publishers. His high-quality, expressive and dynamic drawings of Superman, Batman, Avengers, X-Men and other superheroes took him to the top of American popular culture.

He also culminated his professional development with the creation of his own comic book: ‘Arrowsmith’. Together with Kurt Busiek, he published this graphic novel based on a fantasy universe.

Last Friday, 21st March, the Carlos Pacheco collection was inaugurated at the CAC San Roque (Contemporary Art Centre), together with the Andrés Vázquez de Sola collection inaugurated the previous year.

Under the slogan ‘When dreams come true’, the Carlos Pacheco collection exhibition offers an encounter with the personal universe of this outstanding artist born in San Roque.

It offers a journey that spans from his early childhood, when he dreamt of the becoming a comic book artist, to the fulfilment of his dreams, his time at Marvel and DC Comics, and the culmination of his artistic development through the creation of his own comic book, Arrowsmith.

The CAC San Roque also houses a recreation of the studio where he created his most outstanding works, with original items belonging to the family. This is an opportunity to understand the creative process behind the construction of a comic book.