Miquel Barceló

Miquel Barceló works between Paris and Mallorca, building relief-like paintings from volcanic ash, seaweed, sediment, and pigments he makes himself. The surfaces carry the energy of their making — holes, cracks, transparencies — and connect to something older than the grand tradition he's working within.

His white paintings from 1988, made after crossing the Sahara, marked a turn toward simplification. His studio in Mali became a second home. The work since then has moved between the sea, the bullfight, and the chapel — light on water, Goya's violence, Baroque commission.

He represented Spain at the Venice Biennale in 2009 and has completed major public installations for the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca and the United Nations in Geneva. The practice remains restless, nomadic, and material.