Michel Pérez Pollo
March 06 – April 30, 2024
Opening hours: Tue – Fri, 9:30 - 14:00 and 16:00 - 19:30 & Sat 11:00 - 14:00
Mai 36 Galerie is thrilled to announce the opening of its new temporary space in Madrid with a solo exhibition by Michel Pérez Pollo.
The exhibition will open on Tuesday, March 5, from 7 to 9 PM and will be open through May 4, 2024. This temporary space will offer an opportunity for gallery artists to be introduced and to exhibit in one of today’s most interesting capitals in Europe. With a legacy spanning decades, Mai 36 Galerie has forged a deep connection with Madrid since its first participation at ARCO Madrid in 1989.
Michel Pérez Pollo's work is characterized by its metaphysical essence and abstract-figurative duality, inviting viewers to contemplate universal questions. His paintings, while rigorous and academic, also evoke the lush memories of his upbringing in the Caribbean tropics and the vibrant energy of his current life in Spain. Born in 1981 in Manzanillo, Cuba, Pérez Pollo currently resides and works in Madrid.
His new series of paintings is inspired by autumn and uses the image of the tree as a narrative axis of the works. The artist is captivated by the experience of the passing seasons. Cuba, his country of origin, has only one season, almost like a lethargy.
The tree is a metaphor for decomposition, metamorphosis, and rebirth. Trunks, branch- es and imaginary fruits, these figures serve as both a synthesis and an extension of his poetics. The artist draws on his own imagination and places it in a wider dimension. The interplay of dimensions presents a constant in Michel’s work. As usual in his creative process, the painting begins with the construction of small-scale models made from modeling clay and formed into miniature models that the artist amplifies on large canvases. The figures attached to these imaginary trees are reminiscent of motifs from Michel’s previous series. What were once forms with an overwhelming presence at the center of the canvas are now small fruits and leaves that complete the openness of the compositions. In these autumn landscapes, the figures are set against colored backgrounds. The shadows, essential to the composition, give this color a way to develop and add an essential, harmonious sense of movement. These works symbolize the idea that painting is not there solely to represent an image, but that is exists by virtue of the recreation of painting itself.