Miguel Peña.

Theatre by Miguel Peña

We close 2023 with the exhibition Theatre by Miguel Peña, an artist who has been linked to our gallery for more than 30 years and whose work has continued to evolve throughout this time.

We became acquainted with his work in the late 1980s, and presented the first solo exhibition in 1991, at a time when his work was a painting that mixed neoclassical influences with the metaphysical painting of the early 20th century, which he immersed in an unsettling atmosphere.

Over the years, painting has gradually disappeared and collage, which at first was an anecdote that only occasionally appeared in his work in the form of pieces of cloth or paper incorporated into the painting, has become his main vehicle of expression. This collage maintains the disturbing air that his painting had, as well as a certain metaphysical air, but echoes of expressionism and surrealism have burst in with force, which he adapts in a personal way with a deep dose of irony.

Nowadays, Miguel Peña's work often starts from a common scenario in which he plays with collage, presenting all kinds of situations. In his latest exhibitions with us, he has used different locations, such as a particular gathering of characters of all kinds in Jugadores de cartas or a place halfway between the artist's studio and an empty museum in Dibujos para leer (Drawings for Reading).

This Theatre by Miguel Peña has a double inspiration. The author has opted for two spaces: one has its origin in a magazine, "Theatre arts", dedicated to American theatre in the 1940s, which he found in Buenos Aires, and which was used, without his knowledge, to prop up some beams in his studio in Menorca: it was with the remains that he began this series.  The other source of inspiration for this exhibition was a small painting by an amateur artist representing a small forest, which he imagines to be inhabited by characters awaiting the viewer's gaze, who must establish a dialogue with it and immerse himself in its particular universe.

The exhibition Theatre by Miguel Peña can be visited until 30 December.