231 - ADOLFO ESTRADA (Buenos Aires, 1942).

ADOLFO ESTRADA (Buenos Aires, 1942). “Collage 9843,” 1998. Mixed media, collage, and paper construction. The reverse features an information label and the inscription “The Jorge María Coll.” Signed and dated in the lower right corner. Signed and dated on the reverse. Measurements: 31 x 21 cm; 33 x 23 cm (frame). In “Collage 9843,” Estrada creates a composition on paper consisting of rectangular shapes and overlapping planes in earthy tones, grays, blacks, and blues. The work appears to be built up in layers: slight shifts, framing lines, and fragments of color create a contained structure that is nonetheless rich in spatial depth. Created in 1998, the piece belongs to a mature phase of his exploration of geometric abstraction. From his earliest years, architecture occupied a central place in his thinking, a trait evident in this piece. It was beginning in 1989 that he began creating larger-format paintings and reliefs—sometimes verging on monochrome—and started titling his works by the technique used, followed by a number identifying the year and the order in which they were created. Collages made of small fragments of paper painted by the artist himself became a regular practice and, at times, the starting point for larger-scale works. Adolfo Estrada began his training in Ignacio Colombres’ studio, and in 1962 he left his native Argentina to move to Madrid, where he furthered his education at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. He eventually settled permanently in Sant Martí Vell (Girona), where he has lived since 1975. He held his first solo exhibition at the Pizarro Gallery in Buenos Aires in 1962, and three years later presented his first solo show in Madrid, at the Ateneo. Since then, he has held solo exhibitions in various Spanish cities, as well as in Argentina, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, and the Netherlands. Among his most recent exhibitions, those held at the Alejandro Sales Gallery in Barcelona (2010), the Dan Gallery in São Paulo (2012), and the Sabine Puget Gallery in Château Barras (France, 2013) are particularly noteworthy. A master of intimate painting, Adolfo Estrada has been honored with prestigious awards such as the Mapfre Foundation’s Penagos Prize for Drawing (1996) and the Condesa Prize in Barcelona (1981), and his work is represented in the Reina Sofía National Art Museum, the Toledo Museum of Contemporary Art, the Ponce Museum in Puerto Rico, the Palacio de Liria in Madrid, the Municipal Museums of Sabadell and Santander, the Lausanne Museum of Contemporary Art, the Ford Foundation in New York, and other public and private collections.