Luis Feito

LUIS FEITO (Madrid, 1929-2021).
Untitled, 1997.
Polished and patinated bronze. Exemplary 2/2.
Slight marks.
Signed and justified by the author.
Measurements: 84 x 34 x 65 cm.
This sculpture is a unique work within the career of Luis Feito. Made in polished and patinated bronze, the work translates into sculptural language the formal principles that characterize the artist's mature painting. The composition is articulated through a play of geometric volumes that are dynamically balanced: inclined planes, angular edges and a spherical element that crowns the structure and acts as a visual focus. This resource refers to one of Feito's formal constants since the 1960s, when the artist frequently incorporated the circle as a structural element in his abstract compositions. In the sculpture, this form is materialized in the upper sphere, establishing a dialogue between mass, balance and spatial tension. The contrast between the polished and reflective surfaces of the gilded bronze and the patinated areas of darker tonality reinforces the perception of volumes and the interaction of the work with light, a fundamental aspect in Feito's aesthetic research. From his early abstract stages, the artist explored the capacity of color and matter to generate spaces of visual energy; in this piece, that search is transferred to the three-dimensional realm through the relationship between light, surface and geometric structure. The exceptional nature of this work lies, therefore, not only in its scarce sculptural production, but also in the artist's ability to transfer to volume the plastic principles that defined his painting. In this sense, the piece is situated in a hybrid territory between sculpture and spatialized painting, where geometry, light and formal balance synthesize the aesthetic thought of one of the great protagonists of contemporary Spanish abstraction.
The Madrid painter Luis Feito was a key figure of Spanish abstraction and a founding member of the El Paso group. After his first solo exhibition in 1954 at the Buchholz gallery in Madrid, he developed an extensive international career, exhibiting in cities such as Paris, New York, Milan and Tokyo.
His work evolved from figuration and cubism towards abstraction, initially with a palette of blacks, ochers and whites, to later incorporate more intense colors -especially red- and increasingly simplified compositions, where the circle became a recurring form.
Throughout his career he received important awards, such as the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts and the Order of Arts and Letters of France, and his work can be found in prominent international museums, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.