Lucio Muñoz

LUCIO MUÑOZ MARTÍNEZ (Madrid, 1929 - 1998).
"Yellow Liorax", 1983-84.
Oil on wood.
Signed, dated and titled on the back.
Measurements: 108 x 91 cm.

"Liorax amarillo" is a work that not only evidences Muñoz's technical mastery, but also his ability to transport the viewer to a space of poetic contemplation, where color and matter take on a life of their own. It was made at a moment of transition in the artist's work, when his style became more refined and symbolic, the result of his experimentation with large-format color engraving between 1983 and 1984. This piece highlights the application of a palette dominated by earthy and ochre tones, with a texture rich in nuances and a spatial game in which wood is once again the protagonist. The composition presents a synthesis of material and lyrical language, evoking forms that oscillate between the organic and the architectural, in a clear allusion to the interior landscape so characteristic of the artist's mature work.

Lucio Muñoz is one of the fundamental figures of Spanish informalism and a pioneer of abstraction in Spain during the second half of the 20th century. His artistic career is characterized by a deeply personal language, in which material lyricism, expressiveness and an innovative relationship with the pictorial support converge. Trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Muñoz began his artistic career under the influence of the Castilian landscape and masters such as Benjamín Palencia, to later evolve towards a poetic abstraction, enriched by his stay in Paris in the 1950s, where he came into contact with the works of Fautrier, Dubuffet and Tàpies.

After his return to Spain, Lucio Muñoz established himself as one of the great representatives of avant-garde art, developing a material painting that broke the traditional limits of the canvas: he burned, cracked and assembled wood to give his works an almost sculptural dimension. His work was distinguished with the National Prize of Plastic Arts in 1983, and in 1989 the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía dedicated an anthological exhibition to him, reaffirming his relevance in the contemporary art scene. His work is represented in institutions such as the Reina Sofía itself, the Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, the Museo Patio Herreriano in Valladolid and numerous international collections.