Miquel Barceló

MIQUEL BARCELÓ ARTIGUES (Felanitx, Mallorca, 1957).
Untitled. Portocolom, 1981.
Watercolor on paper.
Signed and dated at the bottom, located on the back.
Measurements: 35 x 49 cm; 38 x 52 cm (frame).

This work, dated August 1981, is a vibrant and characteristic piece of Miquel Barceló's early period, a period marked by a raw energy and a deep connection with his Mallorcan surroundings. The annotation on the back, "La Ponderosa Porto Colum", places the scene in the well-known coastal town of Portocolom (Mallorca), a fundamental place in the artist's life and work.

The painting is an explosion of gesturality that captures the sensation of the sea rather than a literal representation of it. It is a work that conveys a sensory, almost synesthetic experience: one can feel the splashing of the water and the movement. Water is treated with an overwhelming expressive freedom. Barceló uses different shades of blue, from a deep cobalt blue to a lighter cerulean at the top. The movement of the waves is represented by energetic brushstrokes and zigzagging white lines that provide a frenetic rhythm, evoking the foam of the waves.

Despite its abstract character, the work contains recognizable elements that anchor it in reality. On the right, two forceful black shapes emerge from the water: diving fins in full action, raising a whirlwind of white foam in their wake. A vertical black shape from which white splashes sprout perfectly suggests a snorkel tube expelling water. The style is gestural, material and primordial.

A painter and sculptor, Barceló began his training at the School of Arts and Crafts in Palma de Mallorca. In 1974 he made his individual debut, at the age of seventeen, at the Picarol Gallery in Mallorca. That same year he moved to Barcelona, where he enrolled at the Sant Jordi School, and made his first trip to Paris. In the French capital he discovers the "art brut", a style that will exert an important influence on his first works. In 1976 he holds his first solo exhibition in a museum: "Cadaverina 15" at the Museum of Mallorca, consisting of a montage of 225 wooden boxes with glass lids, with decomposing organic materials inside. In 1977 he makes a second trip to Paris, and also visits London and Amsterdam. That same year he exhibits for the first time in Barcelona and meets Javier Mariscal, who will become one of his best friends in the city. Together with him and the photographer Antoni Catany he participates, as a member of the magazine "Neón de Suro", in exhibitions in Canada and California. In 1978, he exhibited his work at the Sa Pleta Freda Gallery in Son Servera, Mallorca. This event was notable for the attendance of figures already consolidated in the artistic panorama of the moment, such as Albert Ràfols Casamada and Josep Guinovart, who promoted and supported the work of the young Mallorcan. His international recognition began in the early eighties, when he took part in the São Paulo Biennial (1981) and the Documenta in Kassel (1982). In 1986 he was awarded the Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas, and since then his work has been recognized through the most outstanding awards, such as the Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Artes (2003) or the Sorolla Prize of the Hispanic Society of America in New York (2007). Barceló is currently represented in the most important contemporary art museums in the world, such as the MoMA in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Guggenheim in Bilbao, the Marugami Hirai in Japan, the Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Patio Herreriano in Valladolid, the CAPC in Bordeaux, the Carré d'Art in Nimes, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Caracas and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, among others.