Rafa Macarrón

RAFA MACARRÓN (Madrid, 1981).
Untitled, 2011.
Mixed media on panel in a wooden box.
Bears a label from the Van Dyck Gallery, Gijón, on the back.
Signed and dated.
Measurements: 17 x 25 x 10.5 cm.
This 2011 work is particularly interesting due to its three-dimensional format. Here, Macarrón departs from the conventional pictorial plane to transform the painting into a small scene contained within a box. The frame ceases to function as a mere boundary for the image and instead becomes part of the work itself, bringing it closer to the diorama, sculpture, and art object. The viewer thus contemplates a small, enclosed, almost theatrical world in which the figure appears to enact an autonomous scene. The central figure, with elongated limbs and a deliberately disproportionate anatomy, embodies some of the artist’s most recognizable traits. Its strange, almost extraterrestrial appearance is a hallmark of its humorous and vulnerable nature. The large eyes, long limbs, and body posture create a simultaneous sense of strangeness, naivety, and humor, characteristic of Macarrón’s iconography. The intense pink background, combined with blues, greens, and yellows, reinforces the artificial and fantastical nature of the scene. The choice of a wooden box is particularly significant within his body of work. Macarrón has on several occasions turned to supports that extend painting into the realm of the object, as can be seen in early works such as *Personajes 2* (2005).
The work also belongs to a particularly significant moment in the artist’s career: 2011, the year in which he received the BMW Prize for Painting and presented his work in exhibitions such as *La Ciudad Acabada* in Madrid. Rafa Macarrón is one of the young Spanish artists with the greatest international profile today, influenced by artists such as Dubuffet, Fraile, Matta, and Quirós, as well as by comics and Spanish painting of the 1950s and 1960s. His exhibition career began in 2006 with a solo show at the Sala Príncipe Sport in Madrid, titled *Trabubus*. Since then, he has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions at venues both in Spain and abroad. Since 2008, he has also participated, with notable success, in numerous international art fairs, such as Art Madrid, Art Valencia, Scope Basel, Young Art Taipei, ARCO Madrid, Art Miami – Aqua, Art Lima, Context New York, Berliner Liste, and others. His work is held in major collections and museums, such as the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in New York, the BMW Foundation in Spain, the Vivanco Foundation in La Rioja, and the Pilar Citoler Collection.