Miguel Bacelo

Miguel Barcelo

Local Artist to me.

Growing up on the wonderful island of Mallorca as I have myself, Miguel studied at the Arts and Crafts School in Palma, and then moved to Barcelona to study at the Fine Arts School. A year after that he returned to Mallorca and had his first show at the Palma Museum. After gaining confidence watching and using other artists tips and experiences, he soon found his own way of expression by simplifying and reducing his habits and reformulating themes and technical challenges, but still sticking to his original ideas such as his piece of work the “chiaroscuro”. He believed heavily in his continuation of a grand tradition.

Throughout the 1980s, he travelled extensively across Europe, USA, and West Africa but  always returned to Paris which is where he set up a second studio that became like a second home to him. After which he created a third studio in Segou. All the traveling,  influenced him and impacted his work, such as West Africa; the power of its light, its bright sun and extremely warm climate, the rockyness of the landscape, and then the colours from the sea and rivers. He adapted this to the texture, layout and colour of his work.

We had the opportunity to visit local galleries and museums on a school trip. 'Es Baluard' is where I first noticed Miguel Barcelo's work. This artist was given a main focus in the gallery not only because of the large scale piece of work handing directly in front of us, but by the form and texture of his work.This gave out a appealing first impression to want to conduct personal research and find out more about this local artist. I am hoping, in the near future, to be able to visit his galleries and even the possibility of meeting Barcelo.

Barcelo enjoys the use of white and pale pastel colours, such as sky blue, which were the colours used in the first piece of work I ever saw at Es Baluard called 'Fifteen Holes'. He creates a 3D effect using what appears to be texturing agents or plaster. This makes his work more distinguishable from other artists that rely simply on brush work to create texture. The simplicity of his forms are contrasted by the vibrant colours in some pieces such as the one below. The intense layering of all his pieces also give his work a more expressive and free spirit.