Alfons Borrell

ALFONS BORRELL (Barcelona, 1931 – Sabadell, 2020).
Untitled No. 3, 2007.
Mixed media on paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Provenance: Galeria Joan Prats, Barcelona.
On the reverse, labels from the Joan Prats Gallery, Barcelona, and the Nicholas Gallery, Belfast.
Measurements: 76 x 112 cm; 98 x 128.5 cm (frame).

This 2007 work is an expressive manifestation of the highly refined formal language that Alfons Borrell developed during his artistic maturity, characterized by the reduction of pictorial elements to their essential qualities. The composition is structured around two expansive dark fields, separated by a narrow vertical strip of white paper onto which incisive orange strokes burst forth. Far from serving as a mere division, this opening introduces a luminous vibration that disrupts the apparent stillness of the monochrome surface, establishing a subtle tension between matter, void, and gesture. The irregularity of the contours and the subtle tonal variations enrich a composition of great austerity and remarkable expressive intensity.

The work is part of the explorations Borrell undertook beginning in the late 1980s, when his painting evolved toward a growing formal radicalism, granting color and space absolute prominence. In this language, close to essentialist abstraction, the large chromatic surfaces take on an introspective dimension, while the gestural marks introduce a human presence that breaks the uniformity. His work on paper, fundamental to his career, allowed the artist to explore with particular immediacy the relationships between the stroke, the surface, and the untouched spaces, conceived as active elements of the composition.

Alfons Borrell was a leading figure in Catalan abstraction during the second half of the 20th century. Initially trained under Hermen Anglada Camarasa and at the Barcelona School of Fine Arts, he participated in 1960 in the founding of the Grup Gallot, which was linked to the movement of action painting. In 1978, he took part in the exhibition “Seny i rauxa. 11 Catalan Artists,” held at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. His career has been the subject of major retrospectives at the Centre d’Art Tecla Sala (2006) and the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona (2015). His work is represented in collections such as those of the MACBA and the Fundació Vila Casas.