Eduardo Úrculo Fernández

EDUARDO ÚRCULO FERNÁNDEZ (Santurce, Vizcaya, 1938 - Madrid, 2003).
"Three characters", 1966.
Watercolor and ink drawing on paper.
Signed and dated in the lower middle area.
Measurements: 69,5 x 100 cm.
The three human figures shown in the image are placed on a practically non-existent background except for an irregular horizontal line, which already provides some of the tension of the work, which will be highlighted by the faces of the characters. The strokes used, marked in certain areas, together with the monochromatic nature of the work, create an uneasiness accentuated by the faces.
Painter and sculptor, one of the best exponents of pop art in Spain, Eduardo Úrculo began painting as a child, without any artistic training, and in 1957 he published his first illustrated strips in the Oviedo newspaper "La Nueva España". Shortly after, he moved to Madrid and began to take classes at the Círculo de Bellas Artes. In 1959 he went to Paris, where he furthered his training at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. In 1967 he made a trip to Northern Europe, and it was then that he first came into contact with American pop. In the eighties he lived in New York, where he carried out important projects. In 1992 he returned to Paris. In this last period he added to his repertoire the theme of the traveler confronted with the great modern city, an ironic variant of the figure of the romantic overwhelmed by the landscape. This formal evolution could be seen through the numerous individual exhibitions he held around the world since 1959, as well as in anthologies (Centro Cultural de la Villa de Madrid, 1997, and Museo del Grabado Español Contemporáneo de Marbella, 2000). Úrculo is currently present in numerous museums and collections of modern art, among them the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderno in Rome, the Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Bogotá, the AENA, Testimoni and Fundesco collections, the Museo del Dibujo Castillo de Larrés, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Vilafamés and others.