Laxeiro

LAXEIRO, JOSÉ OTERO ABELEDO (Lalín, Pontevedra, 1908–Vigo, 1996).
“Apuntes,” Nantes, 1977.
Ink on paper.
Signed, dated, and located in the upper right corner.
Measurements: 35 × 24 cm; 71 × 60 cm (frame).

Dated in Nantes in 1977, this work belongs to Laxeiro’s mature period, following his permanent return from Buenos Aires. Its nature as a sketchbook allows for a particularly direct glimpse into his creative process: various motifs appear gathered on a single sheet without being integrated into a single narrative scene, as successive formulations arising from the immediate act of drawing.

The accumulation of forms reflects one of the essential features of his artistic universe: the coexistence of human figures, animals, and deformed beings, linked both to the Galician folk imagination and to an expressionist and fantastical sensibility.

The absence of corrections and the layering of sketches lend the sheet a remarkable spontaneity and reveal drawing as an autonomous practice, closely linked to the invention of characters that fueled the artist’s entire pictorial output.

Laxeiro was a key figure in the renewal movement of Galician painting. His artistic language integrated folk tradition, Romanesque, Baroque, Expressionism, and the European avant-garde, giving rise to a visual universe of intense personality. After living in Buenos Aires for nearly two decades, he returned to Galicia in 1970. His work is represented in the Reina Sofía Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in A Coruña, and the permanent collection of the Laxeiro Foundation in Vigo.