MARI PURI HERRERO: EL COLOR DE LOS DÍAS

April 23

On April 13th, the Alvaro Alcázar gallery presents the monographic exhibition “El color de los días” (The Color of the Days) by artist Mari Puri Herrero (1942, Bilbao), where the most recent production of this veteran painter is addressed. The exhibition brings together around thirty of her works on paper, immersing us in a world where pigment, nature, and the enigmatic take a protagonist role. Due to her great technical mastery, the artist manages to elevate the paper support to the category of the most refined painting, thus blending drawing and painting into one.

Herrero’s presented work has been created over the past three years and represents a continuity in her extensive career, remaining faithful to her style characterized by constant references to nature, landscape, but also the human figure. Her papers capture images of everyday life that also coexist with the disparity of dreams. References that border on abstraction and are shrouded in a halo of mystery and silence. Mari Puri once again draws from her personal experiences or places such as Menagaray, in Álava, Bilbao or Madrid.

It is in this phantasmagorical universe where the artist turns color and drawing into the main allies of her work. Different shades of blacks, blues, oranges, purples, and bright reds are associated with technique to challenge reality. Giving equal importance to method and form, drawing also contributes to the cause. In this case, the automatism of the technique brings the figures to life and color elevates the works to the sphere of surrealism with expressionist undertones. Herrero once again reveals herself as an excellent draftswoman, paying close attention to detail, from the choice of handmade paper, the theme, and above all, the treatment of drawing. Likewise, the predominantly vertical format of the papers is remarkable, it accentuates the content of the works themselves; tall cypresses, elongated human silhouettes, or small fragments of paper glued as collages, which take on fusiform shapes and seem to rise.

This exhibition is an opportunity to see the work of this artist, as a prelude to the upcoming major retrospective exhibition prepared by the Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao.

Biography

Mari Puri is one of the most renowned living artists on the Basque scene. Since her education, she has lived in places like Amsterdam, Paris, or Madrid, although she has never neglected her secluded life in nature. At the age of 17, she moved to Madrid to attend engraving workshops, draw from life at the Círculo de Bellas Artes, and immerse herself in art in the various museums of the capital. In 1966, she received a scholarship from the Diputación de Bizkaia and the Dutch Government to continue her studies in Amsterdam, particularly at the Rijksakademie. After encountering the work of great artists, both ancient and contemporary, her work acquired a more symbolic sense, and after her stay in Paris and her return to Spain, she began an intense exhibition activity, both in painting and engraving. She has continued with long temporary stays in Paris until recently. Whether as a painter, engraver, or sculptor, Mari Puri Herrero has become a notable creator at the national level.

In Madrid, April 2024