Victor Mira

VÍCTOR MIRA (Zaragoza, 1949 - Munich, 2003).
"Spinning", 1997.
Mixed media on panel.
Signed in the lower right corner. Signed, dated and titled on the back.
Measurements: 158 x 105 cm; 163 x 111 cm (frame).
In Hilatura, Mira constructs a vertical composition dominated by three elongated forms that simultaneously recall human figures, columns or threads descending from a vault. The title, which alludes to the act of spinning, suggests a metaphor of connection, continuity and destiny: as if the figures were filaments linking different planes of existence. In Victor Mira's production, Hilatura reflects his interest in the existential dimension of painting and in a symbolic language that combines European spiritual tradition, expressionism and a deep autobiographical charge.
Painter, sculptor, engraver and writer, his training was basically self-taught. At the age of eighteen he held his first solo exhibition at the N'Art gallery in Zaragoza, which was also the first outdoor sculpture exhibition held in that city. Soon after he moved to Madrid, where he exhibited in 1973 at the Pol Verdié gallery. During his years in the capital he attended the Encuentros de Pamplona, where he met John Cage. Two years later, in 1974, Ana María Canales publishes her book "Víctor Mira, eres mi pintor preferido" (Victor Mira, you are my favorite painter). In 1975 she travels to Heidelberg, where she lives for five months, and that same year she publishes "El libro de las dos hojas". In 1976 he began working in Germany on his series "Spanische Haltung" and "Manos". After spending some time between Madrid and Germany, in 1977 he settled in Barcelona. There he began his cycle of paintings "Interiores catalanes con tomate", and in 1979 he published his first book of poems, "El bienestar de los demonios". That same year he had his first solo exhibition in Munich, at the Tanit Gallery, and the following year he showed his work in the United States, at the George Staempfli Gallery in New York. From then on his international career took off, with exhibitions in Germany, the United States, Holland, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Colombia, France, Belgium and Austria, while he continued to exhibit regularly in Spain. In 1983 he travels to the United States for the first time, invited by the Meadows Museum of Dallas, and that same year he works in the engraving workshops of the Southern Methodist University of Dallas and stays five months in New York. Also in 1983, in Barcelona, he created his first series of iron sculptures, "Cultura del arco" and "Mediodías". During the following years he continued to hold important exhibitions all over the world, in addition to publishing books of poems, bibliophile editions, graphic works, etc. In 1997 he was invited to participate in the Art Biennale in New York by Amy Chaiklin, and six years later, shortly before his death, he received the award for the best living Spanish artist at the ARCO Fair. The most recent retrospective exhibition dedicated to this artist was held in Düsseldorf, Germany, at the Beck & Eggeling Gallery. Mira's works are preserved in museums and private collections around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Reina Sofia National Art Center, the MACBA in Barcelona, the Fine Arts Museums of Vitoria and Zaragoza, the Beulas Foundation in Huesca, and the ICO Collections Museum in Madrid, among others.