New York, NY – January 24, 2022 - Acquavella Galleries is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by acclaimed Spanish artist Miquel Barceló. This is the artist’s third exhibition with the gallery and first solo presentation in the United States outside of New York in nearly four decades. The eponymous show features twelve paintings and a selection of ceramic works completed in 2019 and 2020, and is on view from February 5 to March 7, 2022 at Acquavella’s Palm Beach location.

The majority of these works were created in 2020, when Barceló was living on the island of Mallorca during the first year of the pandemic. The paintings reflect Barceló’s love of nature, particularly the sea, which serves as a lifelong inspiration. This passion is a prevalent theme in the exhibition, with many of the mixed-media paintings depicting various aquatic scenes, often set on soft, swirling blue, or green backgrounds.

Barceló’s ceramics are unconventional in the ‘clay collage’ appearance of his works. In the 1990s, Barcelo was introduced to ancient Dogon clay techniques from the Neolithic period in Mali, West Africa which he then fused with traditions native to Mallorca. The intricate ceramic works reference marine life, featuring textured and expressive illustrations of assorted crustaceans and fish. In addition to depicting aquatic forms, his ceramic works are decorated with bulls, leaves, and other natural forms, recalling prehistoric cave paintings, including Chauvet and Lascaux - both of which he studied in depth.

His work has been regularly commissioned for notable public spaces including a mural for the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris (2016), Gran Elefandret in New York’s Union Square (2011), a ceramic panorama for the chapel of St. Pere in the Cathedral of Palma (2001-2006), and The Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room, formerly known as Room XX, in The United Nations Headquarters in Geneva in 2008, in which the artist covered the immense domed ceiling with stalactites made from 35 tons of paint.

Miquel Barceló will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue with an introduction by Eleanor Acquavella, and will be co-distributed by Rizzoli.

About Miquel Barceló

Miquel Barceló was born in Felanitx, Majorca in 1957 and currently lives and works in Mallorca, Spain, and Paris, France. The youngest artist to ever show at the Musée du Louvre, Barceló represented Spain at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009 and participated in Documenta VII in Kassel, Germany in 1982. He has had retrospectives at renowned institutions, including Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico; the Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain; and is included in many esteemed public and private collections worldwide. Barceló has also has several solo exhibitions in recent years, including one featuring his ceramics at the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, Faenza in 2019, a solo exhibition titled Metamorfosis at the Museo Picasso, Málaga in 2021, and an upcoming exhibition at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, on view January 13 – March 25, 2022.

Studio photos by François Halard, 2021.

Works photographed by David Bonet Ensenat.

All works of art by Miquel Barceló are © 2022 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris