Mariano Matarranz

MARIANO MATARRANZ (Madrid, 1952).
Untitled, 2009–10.
Mixed media on canvas mounted on panel.
Signed and dated on the reverse.
Measurements: 196 x 270 cm.

This large-scale work belongs to a fully mature phase of Mariano Matarranz’s material exploration, developed over decades around the physical transformation of the pictorial surface. Starting from the figurative style of his early years, the artist evolved toward an informal style based on experimentation with materials and processes—including oxidation—which became one of the most recognizable features of his artistic language.

The composition is structured through broad rectangular areas and layers of material that appear to have undergone processes of wear, sedimentation, and corrosion. The dominant blacks and earth tones give way in the center to an area of ochres, oranges, and reds whose chromatic intensity arises from the texture itself. The painting is constructed through surfaces undergoing transformation, in which marks, erosions, and variations in density evoke the behavior of mineral materials and the effect of the passage of time. This processual dimension remains central to his most recent work, as highlighted by the solo exhibition the Museum of Fine Arts of Asturias dedicated to him in 2025–2026.

Matarranz trained in the studio of Méndez Ruiz and at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts, and held his first solo exhibition in Madrid in 1972. In 1988, he was selected for *Acta 88*, organized by the then-Reina Sofía Art Center at the Palacio de Velázquez, and later participated in art fairs such as ARCO, Art Basel, and Art Chicago. His work is included, among others, in the collections of the María Cristina Masaveu Peterson Foundation, the Jovellanos Birthplace Museum, the Congress of Deputies, and the Princess of Asturias Foundation.