Joaquín Michavila Asensi

JOAQUÍN MICHAVILA ASENSI (Alcora, Castellón, 1926 – Albalat de Taronchers, Valencia, 2016).
“Abstraction.”
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 81 x 61 cm, 95.5 x 74.5 cm (frame).
One of the leading figures of Valencian abstract art, Joaquín Michavila trained at the San Carlos School of Fine Arts in Valencia, where he served as a member of the academy since 1975 and as president from 2003 to 2007. A professor of fine arts, he was awarded the Distinction for Cultural Merit by the Valencian Regional Government (2001) and the Valencian Regional Government’s Prize for the Visual Arts (2007). Michavila moved to Valencia in 1932, where he lived until 1966. A prominent figure in the Valencian avant-garde, Michavila was a member of the groups Los Siete, Parpalló, and Artes del Arte from their inception. He began his career in 1952 and spent several years searching for his own artistic language; beginning in 1960, he developed a style rooted in Constructivism, which progressively evolved toward an increasingly geometric style. A decade later, he focused on evoking the landscapes of his youth through abstraction, and around 1990 he began to explore tenebrism, with works marked by the contrast between light and shadow. At the beginning of the 21st century, Michavila embarked on a new phase with a series of acrylic works generically titled “Contrapunto”—a musical term from which visual interpretations of avant-garde composers such as Schönberg, Luis de Pablo, and Paco Llàcer emerge. This latest series explores a certain existential drama stemming from his earlier pictorial tenebrism, featuring black backgrounds against which sound becomes pure form—a vibration that is both sonic and luminous—evoking synesthesia. Throughout his career, Michavila held exhibitions throughout Spain, as well as in Rome, Florence, Basel, Denver, São Paulo, New York, and Vienna. He was honored with numerous awards, including the Alfonso Roig Prize from the Provincial Council of Valencia in 1996 and the Gold Medal of the City of Valencia in 1997, in addition to being named an Alcorí Distinguit in 1998. Furthermore, in February 2016, the University of Valencia dedicated a solo exhibition to him as a tribute, bringing together a selection of thirty works representative of his entire career.