A portico to enhance the figure of the painter

There will be painting as long as there is existence. My concept of painting is the interpretation of light”. These are the words of the painter Félix de la Concha (León, 1962) during the inauguration of an unusual exhibition, which aims to establish a multiple dialogue between the work created in the very space to be represented and reality.Portico is therefore an exhibition created especially for this purpose and composed of seven oils on panel and canvas, including two triptychs which, painted by the artist inside and outside exterior of the museum before the pandemic, will coexist with pieces from the unique collection of the Museo Lázaro Galdiano until mid-November.

The painter himself explains that this exhibition was born in 2019 when the museum offered him the possibility of temporarily setting up his studio in the Portico of Parque Florido, the former main entrance to the palace, to paint the two triptychs which are currently exhibited in the same space. And, once the work is completed in early summer, the artist painted from the garden the exterior views which are now exhibited in the ballroom gallery of this palacelocated next to one of the most important arteries in the heart of Madrid.

Trained at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Madrid and at the Spanish Academy in Rome, Félix de la Concha eventually settled in the United States, where he spent most of his artistic career. De la Concha himself points out that the current exhibition in the Spanish capital draws an analogy with the one he already made in Pittsburgh at the dawn of the current century, which he titled Against the Clock, A Race Against Time. , an ambitious project on the portico of Clayton, the home of another great collector, tycoon Henry Frick.

De la Concha establishes the relationship between the two exhibitions. He claims to start from the environment that he inhabits, or that inhabits him, and in which there is always a meditation on space and time. “In my works, I try to reflect the experience of being there, evolving over the days and the place that I pass through.. I also try to create in the spectator the experience of entering my gaze, offering both counterpoints and subtle references, details to be seen from different angles so that, through attention and pause, the audience can create their own vision”.

The realism of his works allowed him to specialize in portraitsso that hundreds of people and characters were immortalized by his brushes, which also made him a “landscape portrait painter”, especially in environments in Spain and the United States.

Regarding the works on display, he himself is quick to respond to criticism: “Although it seems easy to paint what you see, it is a challenge to the interpretation of realitywhich is wider than can be reflected on a flat surface, so the artist is still forced to make his own reading”.

At a time when technology seems to be conquering all fields, Pórtico wants to claim the figure of the painter in an exhibition which, according to the artist, is above all intended to be a pleasure. “A special start for this artistic season at the Museo Lázaro Galdiano, which will be full of stimuli for the viewer”says its director Begoña Torres.