On August 16th the poet, professor, essayist and critic Kevin Power passed away. He served as deputy director of Museo Reina Sofía from 2003 to 2005. In the 1980s he worked unceasingly to give shape to a new brand of art criticism, one that was more rigorous, with a deeper social engagement and in closer dialogue with international debate. He played an instrumental role in the development of the pioneering journals Figura and Arena. A British expatriate, he displayed an exceptional understanding of the value and meaning of the artists, mostly painters, active in Spain at the time, and he curated one of the key exhibitions of the decade: Cota Cero (+-0,00) sobre el nivel del mar, held in Alicante in 1985.
His critical interventions offer an outstanding guide to appreciating the development of Spanish art over the last three decades, applying sensitivity and intelligence to artists as diverse as Palazuelo and García Sevilla, Uslé, Miquel Navarro and Juan Luis Moraza. Interested in international art from the very beginning of his career, in the final years he broadened his gaze to include Latin America and the new hotspots of global art.
