29,7x42cm oil, spray and colored pencils on paper
2023
*Sold to a private collector
Tag: grahovsky
Newsletter 07
July 2022
New shows this fall
September 1st
I’ll be part of a group show here in Madrid at the Sara Caso Gallery. It’s been a last minute deal but I’m truly happy that Sara and her team are giving me the chance to be part of something new and fun.
October 22nd
Next one will be something different from my current line of work, I’ll have a solo show in Navel Art about medicines still life paintings. It’s something I’ve been working aside and the people’s response has been great so far, I’m so excited about how this new theme will grow with time. More news will be posted when the show opening is near.
Art shows I loved
This month we got the chance to visit two great shows here in Madrid. The first one was a retrospective about Alex Katz at the Thyssen Museum (one of the Big 3 in the city). I didn’t know much about this painter, but his huge portraits were impressive in their simplicity and learning he kept painting until his 90s gave me hope (or the chills). The second one was about a spanish photographer: Gonzalo Pérez Siquier. His photographs of people at the beach were incredible, specially when you find out they were taken in the late 70s and the 80s. His work is still influencing lot of contemporary photographers, pretty awesome.
I hope one day our daughter loves going to art shows as much as we do, right now she spends most of the time sleeping!
Summer plans
We’re going on vacation for almost all august so there won’t be any more painting until september. Since the both of us are not from Madrid is time to visit our parents and let them enjoy their first granddaughter and maybe give us some rest. In the meantime I’ve activated a summer discount on the shop so you can get a 30% off until august 31th, but shipping will have to wait until september. Just use the code “SUMMERSALE” on checkout and it will be applied.
Hope you and yours are ok and having a good time.
See you next month,
Thanks!
Newsletter 05
May 2022
Back to school!
I’ve been following Miguel Gómez Losada’s work for a few years now and this May I had the chance to spend a weekend with him and some fellow artists. Just painting and talking about painting, and our different approaches to our practice.
Thanks to the people of Fresco.Arte we had two wonderful days where Miguel talked about how painting is more related to poetry than photography and how to get rid of our inner prejudices, in terms of our skills, when we paint and how to build our own worlds. I found his take on painting truly inspiring and, since I’m exploring my “surreal” side after all these years, I’m feeling the need to care more about what I’m telling that how I’m painting it, or as I read somewhere: “less details and more poetry”.
Check Miguel’s work on instagram, it’s pretty awesome.
Art shows I loved
Two shows caught my eye this month. The first one was Miguel Coronado‘s at Ansorena (one of my favorite galleries in Madrid). I discovered Miguel’s work a few months back and seeing it in person for the first time was awesome. The way he loses the figures but you still can recognize what you are looking at is so beautiful.
The second show was Paco Cachadas’ at Veronica del Hoyo y Colino. A new gallery I didn’t know about but worth keeping an eye on, their next shows are quite promising. Paco’s work is more classic, in a figurative way of speaking, but the subjects he chooses and his interiors have some kind of mystery that keeps you staring at them.
Digging into surrealism
With each passing month my confidence about this line of work grows and things are starting to take shape. I have a lot of new rough sketches waiting to become paintings and I’m also playing with 3D software to get better references for what I’m looking for. I’m really happy with the outcome and really excited with what’s coming next. Some of the pieces were added to the shop and you can always follow my progress on instagram.
See you next month,
Thanks!
Newsletter 04
April 2022
Dolores
Finally our first daughter was born on the 11th and we are so happy! She’s doing great and letting us sleep at night (thank God). Charlotte (the mother) is also recovering pretty well, can’t wait for all that is to come. By the way, if you haven’t seen my wife’s totally awesome tattoo work this could be a great time 😉
https://www.instagram.com/charlotte_tattooing/
Art shows I loved
Before the baby arrived, we managed to visit some art shows of two artists I’ve been wanting to see their work in person for a long time, Julio Larraz and Paco Pomet. Each one of them approaches contemporary surrealism in a truly personal way. Larraz plays with some childish vibes and vintage aesthetics building scenes as if you were looking in to someone’s dreams, while Pomet builds odd narratives intervening monochromatic pictures with unexpected elements. It was great to be able to take a closer look to these works. If you like art, please go to art shows anytime you can. There’s a physical component to painting that has to be experienced alive.
Did you know?
The first bubble gum portrait dates from December of 2012, 10 years ago!
It was the time before I learned to paint with oils and was made digitally with photoshop. The next bubble gum portrait was “How far is a light year?” and it only took me four years to get there.
I’ve been thinking about how to make these newsletter more fun so I’m gonna leave the comments open in this newsletter in case you wanna comment or ask anything, don’t be shy! (Just be polite with other people).
Thank you all!
– A
