Issue date: 08 Jul, 2014
CONTEMPORARY ART
The Contemporary Art series was first issued in 2011 as a tribute to the great artists in Spain today. Antoni Tàpies, Manolo Valdés and Antonio López featured on previous stamps, and they are now joined by Miquel Barceló. The sheet depicts his work entitled Ça Va, created in 2004.
Miquel Barceló (Felanitx, Mallorca, 1957) states that his love of painting started when he was very young, watching his mother paint: “There were always painting materials, books and pictures at home, so I have always been familiar with art.” Early on, he began to study at the School of Art in Palma de Mallorca, and very quickly went on to the San Jordi Fine Arts School in Barcelona, although he hardly ever attended classes, preferring to be self-taught instead. On his first trip to Paris (1974) he discovered and took special interest in the works of Paul Klee, Jean Dubuffet and the Art Brut movement. He continued his training by reading manifestos and works by the most avant-garde artists, while exploring and learning from paintings by Lucio Fontana, Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock, amongst others.
Barceló held his first exhibitions in the mid-1970s, with one in Mallorca in 1976 consisting of an installation of 225 wooden boxes with glass lids containing decomposing organic material, such as bananas, boiled rice, meat and bread. Later, he experimented with canvases covered with thick layers of paint, which he exposed to the elements to produce oxidation and cracking. His art continued to develop, and in the 1980s he was sought after by the main museums and galleries throughout the world. He discovered Mali on his first trip to Africa in 1988 and spent long periods of time there, painting its landscapes, colours and lifestyle in a series of pictures over the years.
He created a huge ceramic altarpiece for Palma de Mallorca Cathedral depicting the miracle of the loaves and fishes, which was inaugurated in 2007. One of his best-known works is the decoration of the domed ceiling of the United Nations Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Known as the Human Rights and Alliance of Civilisations Room, it covers over 1.400 square metres and consists of thousands of stalactites. Painter, sculptor, potter and multi-faceted artist, Barceló has designed book covers, logos, posters and opera and theatre sets.
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