48 - MIGUEL ÁNGEL CAMPANO (Madrid, 1948 - 2018).

MIGUEL ÁNGEL CAMPANO (Madrid, 1948 - 2018). Untitled. Polyptych, 1993. Oil on canvas (x5). They present labels on the back of the Juana de Aizpuru Gallery, Madrid. Signed and dated (all) on the back. Measurements: 29 x 20 cm; 40 x 29 cm; 59 x 40 cm; 80 x 58 cm; 117 x 80 cm. Throughout the nineties, the work of Miguel Angel Campano underwent a profound process of transformation that marked a turning point in his artistic career. As can be seen in this polyptych, his work began to strip itself of elements that had been central in previous stages. On the one hand, he eliminated any explicit reference to the pictorial tradition, breaking with the influences and cultural echoes that had previously nurtured his creation. This act of cutting ties with the past was not a mere coincidence, but a conscious search for essentiality and renewal. Simultaneously, Campano decided to dispense with color in his palette, a resource that for centuries has been a fundamental vehicle for artistic expression. Instead, he chose to work exclusively with black on bare canvases. This austere, almost minimalist approach created an atmosphere of sobriety and allowed the viewer to concentrate fully on the forms, rhythms and tensions of the pictorial space. The absence of color was not a void, but an affirmation: a way of intensifying the dialogue between the artist, the support and the idea. Another essential aspect of this stage was the prominence that geometry acquired in his work. Geometric forms, precise and forceful, became the central axis of his visual language. This resource not only brought structure and balance to his compositions, but also revealed an interest in the abstract and the conceptual, moving further and further away from the anecdotal or narrative. Taken together, these changes reflect a period of introspection and refinement in Campano's work. Miguel Ángel Campano is one of the references of the so-called renovation of Spanish painting, which took place in the eighties and in which Ferrán García Sevilla, José Manuel Broto, José María Sicilia and Miquel Barceló also participated. In the 70's he moved to Paris thanks to a scholarship; the planned year became a stay of more than ten, there he lived and developed his brilliant pictorial career. Then he went to live in Mallorca. In 1980 he was part of the exhibition Madrid DF, in the Municipal Museum of Madrid, along with several artists among whom were the same ones who today -except García Sevilla- accompany him in the Palacio de Velázquez. Five years later he was selected, together with other fellow artists of his generation, then all young painters, such as Miquel Barceló, who was already an outstanding figure, and José María Sicilia, for a group exhibition in New York. In 1996 he was awarded the National Prize for Plastic Arts. He had just suffered a serious stroke and underwent surgery in Madrid. This forced him to spend several months without painting. Then he painted "only in black", a very symbolic color according to his own words. Three years later, the Reina Sofia Museum organized in this same Palacio de Velazquez an exhibition dedicated to his recent work then, that of the 90s. His works are exhibited in the most important museums, such as the British Museum in London, the Pompidou Center in Paris and the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Reina Sofía in Madrid.