Put the Ceerre next to a Miquel

Esther Miquel and Xavi Ceerre

In this exhibition Esther Miquel and Xavi Ceerre present recent works in an exercise of contrapposto In terms of painting, beyond the friendship that unites them and their belonging to the same artistic generation, the two artists share interests and formal similarities. The interest in graphic design and symbolism, the painter's gesture that becomes almost legible as writing (or a phonetic sketch), is, despite being unique, a creator of echoes in its encounter.

In Xavi's work, his background as an urban artist has transformed his brushstrokes into a shadow of the letters that once populated the walls; successive layers of paint evoke a superimposition of voices on the same plane. In Esther, his interest in meditation and geological space creates signs similar to parentheses, spaces that evoke writing in flux, a silent flow, suspending meaning.

Another of the axes that articulate both works is the interest in the material investigation of what makes up a painting. The attention in Esther's work to the architecture (normally hidden) that forms the painting as a three-dimensional object, revealing and using the frame as a formal element of the painting, work that culminates with an austere color palette that invites the viewer to contemplation and introspection. As in Xavi's work, the gestures and pentimentos They come together and create reflections between them. Using bright, fluorescent colors, the artist's signature leaves a mark as a reminder of a space that is already part of our memory.

This shared interest in paying attention to the surface (and materiality) of painting coincides, coincidentally, with a shared fondness for a specific format. A size that immerses the visitor's body, which refers more to a quasi-corporeal relationship with the painting, the smaller format being more of a window or view.

Put the Ceerre next to a Miquel It is the sharing of a dialogue between both artists, two unique voices that emerge from a shared world.

01 − 11.12.2022 Groc Projects

Text by Guille Caivano

Photography Roberto Ruiz