MIKI LEAL
Bio
Miki Leal, a graduate of Fine Arts from the University of Sevilla, currently resides and works in Madrid. His painting is characterized by a unique blend of cultural influences, a profound connection to music and literature, and the fusion of various artistic styles. These elements serve as expressions of the societal dynamics that define his generation, encompassing themes of rebellion, anarchism, and sensory saturation.
Throughout his career, Leal has explored diverse artistic mediums, including drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, and installations. In 1999, he co-founded The Richard Channin Foundation, an artistic collective in Sevilla, along with visual artists Juan del Junco and Fernando Clemente. This collective remained active until 2004. In 2019, the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo dedicated a retrospective exhibition, curated by Sema D'Acosta, to honor the work of this collective. Leal also played a pivotal role in establishing the Madrid project Noestudio.7, in collaboration with artists Jacobo Castellano, Jaime de la Jara, Abraham Lacalle, curator María José Solano, and designer Esteban Navarro.
Miki Leal's work has found a place in prestigious collections, including the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (CAAC) in Seville, the Caja Madrid Collection, the RED BULL Collection, Hangar 7 in Salzburg, the Community of Madrid, the Junta de Andalucía, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (MUSAC), the universities of Salamanca and Seville, Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo (ARTIUM), Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, Colección de Arte Contemporáneo de la Fundación Bancaria La Caixa, Colección de la Real Academia de España en Roma (RAER), and Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo (CA2M), among others.
Statement
Always working on paper, Miki Leal develops a very personal and abstract imagining with a
pop and dreamlike overtone. His creative methodology uses the association to find elements that he will later insist on with the energy and versatility that characterize his painting. Among the most recurring topics we can find in his work are his family and domestic environment, his passion for various musical genres, and the presence, as a leitmotif, of a symbolic corpus based on the geometry of decorative patterns; a geometry, it should be noted, of Sevillian inspiration (tiles, mosaics, terrazzo). Regarding his multiple links to abstraction, he has said: “I have passed through different creative processes, even though it has always been a process typical of an abstract painter because I always start from white. What is important is to continue painting until something appears made of the elements that one has in mind, present at that moment.”
2.5 x 4m / 98.4 x 157 in
