Beginning on April 13th until June 15, Villa Magdalena will present Cristina de Miguel: El caer y el viento, a selection of new paintings by New York-based Spanish artist Cristina de Miguel (Seville, 1987). On view will be 5 works motivated by the artist’s newfound contemplation of the ocean and the idea of bodies in water. This new series responds to the nature of the place that will host it, San Sebastian; a coastal city engulfed by the sea. In this exhibition, De Miguel continues her pictorial exploration of reoccurring themes like gravity, velocity, physicality while developing a figurative approach defined by the fragmentation of the body and the materiality of paint.

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Cristina de Miguel’s paintings are known for their juxtaposition of distorted figures with bright color palettes. At the core of her practice is the combination of different methods of paint application which result in a variety of textures and brushwork. The heightened sense of movement in her pictures emulate a process which is inherently physical and chaotic: the canvas alternates between leaning and laying flat on the ground as the artist pours, flings, scratches and brushes the paint onto the surface. De Miguel’s use of oil stick and the abundance of frenzied lines which sustain her loose corporeal anatomies evoke a painterly sensibility which is significantly influenced by drawing. In a fundamental manner, her paintings come to life through opposing forces: wet and dry textures, thick and thin surface treatments, dark figurative gestures and compositions characterized by luminous colors.

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Human figures and faces are predominant subjects in Cristina de Miguel’s oeuvre. In recent years, we have been introduced to groupings of fictional beings performing actions: individuals riding scooters and motorbikes, playing musical instruments, marching, flying. These collective scenes from past bodies of work are crowded arenas with multiple figures and actions which interact at once. What we now witness in the large-scale canvases included in this exhibition are images that have distanced themselves from the narrative genre in favor of a more non-representational gaze.

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The paintings on view are the result of an introspective phase where the artist reflects on ideas that channel her visual language in a new imaginary direction while possessing a site-specific element that communicates with the exhibition setting. De Miguel’s final result are canvases which mainly revolve around single-figure compositions. The body and its respective parts have increased dramatically in scale to the extent where forms lose their contours and begin to melt towards the unrecognizable. Scenes with multiple happenings have been replaced with giant hands and feet that retain their own autonomy as they occupy large areas of the picture plane. Stained blue backgrounds with liquid appearances anchor these falling figures and create fluid gestures that evoke the sea and its sporadic movements. The rhythmic tension between faces with distinct expressions rendered in detail and deconstructed torsos lacking structural integrity embody the artist’s notion of the body as pieces.