Javier Pagola

JAVIER PAGOLA (San Sebastian, 1955).
Untitled, 2004 and 2007.
Inks on paper (x2).
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 28 x 40 cm; 42 x 54 cm (frame); 40 x 28 cm; 54 x 42 cm (frame).
He studies Architecture at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, between 1974 and 1978. Later he settled in Cuenca, where he devoted himself to painting. Throughout his career he has been awarded several scholarships; in 1993 he obtained an Endesa scholarship for Plastic Arts, in 1997 a scholarship from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and in 1999 a scholarship for Plastic Arts from the Marcelino Botín Foundation. To his pictorial work must be added his work in the field of illustration of books such as Gargantua by Rabelais and incursions into the world of printmaking. His creative personality keeps him away from specific groups and movements. His work is based on the mastery of drawing, and in it we can observe an evolution from the gestural application of the stroke in line with abstract expressionism to the use, in the nineties, of a playful iconography. These characters, which are somewhere between the surrealist and childish worlds, populate the entire surface of the canvas in an anarchic way and some authors see in them an inspiration coming from the world of comics. He has had numerous solo exhibitions since he first did so in 1980 at the Ikusmira Gallery in San Sebastian. He also participates in important collective exhibitions and is present in the editions of Estampa'95 and 96 and Arco'94, 98, 2000, 2003. He has also been for years main draftsman in national presses, ABC, El PIS, and other publications. He is currently represented in collections such as the MNCA Reina Sofía and the Fine Arts Museums of Rome and Alava, Ars Fundum Gestión, S.L., Pamplona City Hall - Contemporary Art Collection, Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo (CA2M), among others.