Luis Feito

LUIS FEITO (Madrid, 1929–2021).
Untitled, 2008.
Mixed media on paper.
Signed and dated
Measurements: 50 x 64 cm.
The composition is structured by a distinct black band that runs horizontally across the paper and serves as a counterpoint to an explosion of red, black, and violet brushstrokes. This latter color is particularly significant: although red had been fundamental in Feito’s work since 1962, violet took on a prominent presence in his work during these years. In 2008, on the occasion of an exhibition, the artist himself was asked in the magazine *Tendencias* about the incorporation of this color and linked his choice to a spiritual dimension. Furthermore, in the work we see a return to gesture, movement, and spontaneity, with rhythms, drippings, and forms that seem suspended in space. This freedom coexisted with the geometric structure that Feito had developed since the 1980s and 1990s, creating that tension between order and chaos that became a constant in his mature work.
mysticism. Trained at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts in Madrid, where he enrolled in 1950 and later served as a drawing instructor, Feito soon became part of the Spanish artistic avant-garde. In 1956, he moved to Paris on a scholarship, and a year later he founded Grupo El Paso. His career gained significant international recognition, with exhibitions in Europe, the United States, and Japan, and his participation in the 1960 Venice Biennale, where he won the David E. Bright Prize. Among his major honors are his appointment as an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters of France, the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts (1998), and his election as a full member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. His work is represented in major international collections and museums, including the Reina Sofía National Art Center, MoMA in New York, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in Rome, as well as institutions in Helsinki, Ottawa, and Tokyo.