Miquel Barceló

MIQUEL BARCELÓ ARTIGUES (Felanitx, Mallorca, 1957).
"The painter on his knees".
Lithograph on paper. Exemplary 66/200.
Signed and justified.
Measurements: 74 x 53 cm.
The present lithograph, made by Miquel Barceló in the 1980s, is an emblematic piece of the expressionist period of the Majorcan artist, in which his plastic language began to consolidate with a visceral force and a marked material character. In it, Barceló represents the figure of a painter -possibly an alter ego of the artist himself- immersed in the creative act, in a space that is perceived as both physical and mental, suggested more by the energy of the stroke than by a conventional spatial construction.The predominant colors, intense yellows and incandescent reds, not only dominate the composition, but reinforce the pulsating character of the scene. These warm tones, applied with a free and spontaneous gesture, generate a dense and feverish atmosphere that alludes to the internal fire of the creative process. 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. His international recognition began in the early eighties, when he participated 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.