
Ismael Lagares (Huelva, 1978)
Lagares is one of the artists of his generation with the greatest national and international outreach. Most of his production is made up of large-format canvases to which he applies a luminous palette of intense reds, yellows, blues and oranges, in dense fillings and quick, loose brushstrokes. He combines techniques and superimposes materials with graffiti and informalist inspirations in aggressive but harmonious compositions, with their own balance that takes the expressive character of plastic media to new highs.
Color and matter function as a bridge between the senses of the viewer and the inner world of the artist. Through an abstraction with a strong expressionist character, each work produces a strong visual impact on whoever observes it. He plays with the density and contrast of pigments, contrasting them with white linen segments, and thus turning the support into pictorial material as well. The counterpoint to these colorful works comes with the introduction of monochrome blocks, in which a single color dominates the matter and the canvas. The thick segments of paint are more subtle but more important than ever and they incorporate small brushstrokes of color that, like flashes of light, give a careful three-dimensionality to the whole and reward an attentive gaze.
The new feature of his work is also introduced by his ceramic sculptures. Lagares incorporates this material in his production in 2019 with small samples that imitate those ‘globs’ of paint that populate his pieces. Over time, however, this material becomes much more important, with large segments of different colors taking front stage on the canvas. Now he reaches the next logical step in their evolution: ceramics that are completely separated from the painting to become free-standing sculptures.
Lagares brings disorder, energy and beauty to everyday life and that is why his work is part of important national and international collections such as the Thyssen Bornemisza Foundation in Madrid, the Mª Cristina Masaveu Peterson Collection, the CAC in Malaga, the Benetton Foundation in Italy, the Valentín Madariga Foundation in Seville, the Duquesa de Alba Private Collection, the Banco Sabadell Foundation in Barcelona, the Courtyard Gallery Private Collection in Dubai, the Cáceres Museum, the MACBA in Barcelona, the Caja Rural de Jaén and Ciudad Real , the Caja Sur de Córdoba, the Pascual Ros Foundation, the Rafael Botí Foundation and the Pablo Ruiz Picasso Cultural Center of Malaga, to name a few.
Digital catalogue:
Works for sale by Ismael Lagares at Aurora Vigil-Escalera Art Gallery:
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