José Luis de Miguel

José Luis de Miguel is an abstract painter based in Spain with a career of almost thirty years. An experimental approach to the formal elements of images is the true subject of his work. We could consider him a lyrical painter because he deliberately refuses to make a painting subjugated to the conceptual and at the same time tries to stay away from decorativism. Compositional schemes based on the relationship of overlapped organic forms make up the structure that allows formal elements to be the real protagonists. So the texture of the brushstrokes, together with chromatic harmonies and contrasts, luminosity and transparency grant to the paintings a symbolic value that remains for the viewer to interpret. His works are classic and contemporary at the same time because even though he is not afraid to address beauty, he is constantly looking for new materials and solutions and trying not to repeat himself.

José Luis de Miguel conceives his compositions intuitively without making sketches but once he has started a new painting he continues over several sessions modifying the initial idea and adding layers, as in a picture editor program, that configure an increasingly complex painting. Sometimes the pictures of the cosmos: nebulae, galaxies and galaxy clusters, are the source of inspiration from which he develop his process. In this series he does not try to represent the images in an iconic way. Instead, he interprets them, and finally there is only an allegorical or symbolic connection between the initial referent and the finished work. In a wide variety of formats he has used acrylic on different supports such as linen, methacrylate, polyester film and stretched flexible PVC. He has also occasionally employed watercolor on paper in small sized works.

Although he has some classic references, his true and most obvious references are all those American and European abstract painters who from the 90s to the present have made works far from dogmatism and conceptualism. José Luis de Miguel’s work has been shown in many solo and group exhibitions and is in corporate and private collections in many countries.

Some of the last shows in which he has participated are the 34rd edition of the Focus-Abengoa International Painting Prize (Seville, 2017); Mudanza at Joaquín Roncal Center.

(Zaragoza, 2015); Postcards from the edge at Luhring Augustine Gallery (New York, 2014) and Cheim & Read Gallery (New York, 2012); Help, Hope, Health at H3 Concept Gallery (Paris, 2011) and Hope at Konstnärshuset (Stockholm, 2011).

To see works available for sale by José Luis de Miguel, click here.