Three Artists

from Barcelona

Magí PuigLa Segarra, b. 1966

A large part of the work of this artist is inspired in his travels to different parts of the world. Over the last three years Venice has occupied a very special place in the work of Magí Puig.

In his painting, as in Venice, light and water merge in an atmosphere that is both dense and intensely luminous, a dazzling haze that serves as the background for his paintings. This background for its very luminosity usually appears quite flat. This allows him to highlight the central theme of his paintings: buildings, landscapes or figures that leap out spectacularly contrasted in much darker

colours, that acquire a special, almost sculptural volume. In some occasions the luminous effects appear in the foreground, creating a distance that produces a feeling of mystery.

The work of this artist frequently plays with a blinding form of backlighting that makes us see colours that are quite distinct from reality. Magí Puig often paints the surface of the water in a white that is at once both dense and translucent.

The central theme of each painting is treated in a meticulous and detailed manner but in a manner that is far from realist. His painting consequently has a great expressive force achieved thanks to the vigour and precision of the brushstrokes and his use of powerful colours that transmit the essence of reality, more than simply its visual appearance.

Magí Puig has been exhibiting at the Sala Parés in Barcelona since 2003 and has also exhibited in prestigious galleries and art fairs in Madrid, London, Paris, Geneva, New York, Toronto and Venice. His work is highly regarded by numerous collectors.

1. La Yuca oil on canvas 97 x 146 cms 381⁄4 x 571⁄2 ins

10. Zona Industrial en Chicago oil on panel 160 x 80 cms 63 x 311⁄2 ins

Alejandro QuincocesBilbao, b. 1951

His painting, intense and vital, is like a poem of the everyday, about the activity of man as he goes through daily life that Quincoces observes with a solitary, and romantic gaze.

Quincoces feels a passion for the urban landscape of NewYork, for its flux, the fleeting instants of the traffic of cars, as well as the city’s hardness, its dense fog, the smoke

mixed with the twilight or electric lights, the frenetic movement that can always be discerned, its sheer immensity … Quincoces’s gaze on the urban landscape is often situated on an elevated plane, from where he captures reality in a lyrical manner, even the industrial landscapes of Chicago, until he sublimates them and converts them into beauty.

The paintings of Alejandro Quincoces are surprising for their material qualities, that gives them a special depth, as much as for his limited range of colours, that he expands in contrast into an immense variety of tones. The austerity of his colour responds to the painter’s aim not to occupy our gaze with evocative features, so much as to make us see what happens beyond the painting. He wants to confront us with the entirety of whole situation, confront us with the emotion and for this he increasingly evades details…Quincoces paints the effect of the shadows, the reflections, the cold light of dawn or the warmth of the afternoon, creating atmospheres that situate us with in front of a certain timelessness.

Visually some of the works by him recall the painters of Romanticism, and even the later works of Turner.

The artistic career of Quincoces is in fact a long journey, along which he has travelled through neorealism, expressionism and abstraction, until he has arrived at his unmistakable personal language, gifted with a great freedom and at the same time closely tied to reality, a language which continues to evolve.

A graduate in Fine Art from the Universidad del País Vasco, he has exhibited in the principal cities of Spain and also in galleries, international art fairs and museums in Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy and the United States. He has been recognised with multiple prizes and his work figures in numerous prestigious collections, both in private as well as public museums and foundations. There is a lengthy bibliography about his painting.

Miguel RaseroDoña Mencía, Córdoba, b. 1955

Rasero approaches the subject of still life in a very innovative manner with the technique of collage and it has been a recurrent theme throughout practically his whole career. The still life is a world deeply rooted in his aesthetic that he has developed alongside other different themes since the eighties.

In these paintings, where objects or fruit acquire a special prominence, we find references to different moments in the history of 20th century art from Cubism to Pop art. We also find a fresh, new vision that is captured in amazingly powerful colours and a brilliant luminosity, with effects of chiaroscuro that seem to connect to baroque painting.

The artist establishes a very personal relation with Cubism and the geometric codification of natural forms that the viewer recognises immediately. This enables him to discover reality through a graphic style of expression, close to drawing that we then translate into volume. Applied with a brush, the pigments and acrylic paint are used at the end to bring out the essential elements.

Miguel Rasero creates a serene harmony out of very contrasting colours, by establishing dialogues and correspondences between them and highlighting some with effects of light. The coloured surfaces seem clothed with a sort of patina that reinforces the chromatic nexus and contributes to the sensation of elegance and sobriety of the whole ensemble.

Rasero’s long career of exhibitions encompasses European galleries as well as art fairs, museums and art institutions in Asia, America and Europe. He has developed numerous public projects in painting and sculpture. His work forms part of prestigious collections in both Spain and abroad.

20. Still Life with Grapes mixed media on panel 40 x 70 cms 153⁄4 x 271⁄2 ins

Enjoyed browsing through this catalogue extract?

Visit subscriptions to find out how to browse our entire collection of FULL e-catalogues.

MessuM’s

BECOME A FRIEND OF MESSUM’S Click here to sign up for free and:Benefit from our weekly online newsletter, offers and promotionsFollow your favourite artists and stay up-to-date on their latest works and activitiesCurate your own virtual collection by creating an online wish list

www.messums.com