Impure airplanes landing in lavish airports, high-speed trains in a sea of iron, the city and passers-by reflected in the store windows of luxurious stores, pharaonic constructions of skyscrapers versus the architecture and commerce of another era… These contrasts, which make a city pulsate and fascinate inhabitants and visitors at the same time, make up the theme of José Miguel Palacio’ s exhibition at the Alcobendas Art Center.
The absolute asepsis of Palacio’s painting fascinates the spectator and makes him doubt about the hidden reality reflected on the canvas. At first, we are caught by the technical perfection and the light of the oil paintings, they almost look like photographs, later we are disconcerted by the apparent absence of the painter. Does he only want to show reality as it is or does his work underlie a criticism of the technification and dehumanization of the city? This duplicity with which José Miguel Palacio plays is what gives the exhibition its title.
“The ambiguity behind the fascination”, which opens next December 14, 2016, collects 48 oil paintings made between 2003 and 2016 with photorealistic technique. The painter first walks the city, observing, then photographs what interests him and, finally, in the solitude of his studio, he meticulously chooses a reality taken in one of his photographs and draws on the canvas down to the smallest detail of that image. On the basis of a meticulous drawing, he then paints the whole scene in oil. It is a conscientious and methodical work in which he invests many months until he finishes the work.
The exhibition at the Alcobendas Art Center closes with an audiovisual about the artist’s working method, the importance of drawing, his palette and the treatment of color to achieve his lights and reflections. The video takes us through the locations where he makes the photographic captures that move him and ends with a time-lapse of one of his latest works.
EXHIBITION TITLE: “José Miguel Palacio. The ambiguity behind the fascination”.
AUTHOR: José Miguel Palacio
VENUE: Alcobendas Art Center
DATES: December 14, 2016 – February 7, 2017
HOURS: Monday to Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
