260 - RAFA MACARRÓN (Madrid, 1981).

RAFA MACARRÓN (Madrid, 1981). Untitled. Ink on paper. Signed in the lower right corner. Measurements: 14 x 21 cm. Rafa Macarrón is one of the young Spanish artists with the greatest international presence today. His paintings feature expansive, neutral spaces filled with intense, vivid colors, through which unstable figures with fragile limbs and enormous heads move. In this way, he creates scenes that do not stray from the figurative world but immerse the viewer in a dreamlike realm, full of lyricism. The artist acknowledges influences from artists such as Dubuffet, Fraile, Matta, and Quirós, as well as from comics and Spanish painting of the 1950s and 1960s. His exhibition career began in 2006 with a solo show at the Sala Príncipe Sport in Madrid, titled *Trabubus*. Since then, he has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions at venues both in Spain and abroad. Since 2008, he has also participated, with notable success, in numerous international art fairs, such as Art Madrid, Art Valencia, Scope Basel, Young Art Taipei, ARCO Madrid, Art Miami – Aqua, Art Lima, Context New York, Berliner Liste, and others… He has received various awards, such as the 2010 BMW Painting Prize and the 2013 ARCO Best Artist Award. His work is held in major collections and museums, such as the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in New York, the BMW Foundation in Spain, the Vivanco Foundation in La Rioja, and the Pilar Citoler Collection.