5 November – 12 December 2015
The Power of Origins
Marlborough Barcelona, Barcelona
Curated by Daniel Giralt-Miracle
Dervishes of The Dark Cave, 2014, Mixed Media, 130 x 130 x 15 cm
Encounter Kostantiniyye Series 1, 2015, Mixed Media, 180 x 180 x 20 cm
Encounter Kostantiniyye Series 1, 2015, Mixed Media, 180 x 180 x 20 cm
Encounter Kostantiniyye Series 1, 2015, Mixed Media, 180 x 180 x 20 cm
Farewell Night with Achilles, 2013, Oil on Canvas, 120 x 220 cm
Hector’s Knights, 2015, Oil on Canvas, 100 x 100 cm
Phoenix of The Seven Montains, 2014, Oil on Canvas, 180 x 240 cm
Serving Zeus, 2014, Mixed Media, 100 x 100 x 15 cm
Witnesses of The Ancient Time, 2015, Oil on Canvas, 100 x 100 cm
Zeus Coming From Blue World, 2015, Oil on Canvas, 150 x 200 cm
Daniel Giralt-Miracle—One can clearly distinguish between what is meaning, strictly speaking, and what is form, and the peculiar procedure the artist employs to combine these two components in his works. In essence, his paintings infused with a mythological background fundamentally are related to the legends and oral traditions of his native culture.
Working with oil paints, he distributes into vertical and horizontal bands or with which he accentuates some of the elements that are characteristic of the mythological subjects of each work. In this amalgam of parallel lines, there are also curves and circles, which often creates a kinetic interplay of spheres, using the effects of op-art to emphasise the presence of the sun. This star that most eastern cultures (Persian, Mesopotamian, Indian, Egyptian, etc.), Greeks, and even Mexicans and Peruvians consider a supreme deity that sees all and, consequently, knows all, also attracts the artist.
He habitually includes the solar disc in his works, in his reliefs, even in his sculptures and, naturally, in his paintings, where, with very few exceptions, it presides in the upper left angle. Though he sometimes renders it flat, he often gives it volume because of the drive that compels him to explore the space and stimulating him to seek the third dimension. It also leads him to play with shadows and superimpose on the pictures other elements that may be straight, curved, sinuous or spherical and that protrude the flat surface of his canvases, with their colour, material quality and volumes.
The selection of works integrated into The Power of Origin provides visitors with an overall idea of his work. It includes his abstractions on mythological themes. It conveys his considerations about the passage of time, religions, and the history of his people. One perceives the magnetism his creations radiate, whether they are two or three dimensional, rectangular or spherical, as the powerful variants of the Kostantiniyye Series bear out. The artist appeals to the audience, includes them in his work and intensifies all the power he can convey through vital mixed techniques due to his colours and the play he proposes with the letters that construct the name once was the capital of the Ottoman empire. He guides us to his origins through the reflections his works suggest.