Recently after a three-year sabbatical I started painting again. Due to fact that I am also writing books and publishing reviews on my website, progress on art is very slow. In fact, I have had to put a piece on hold temporarily whilst I concentrate on other projects. In my experience, becoming a successful artist involves an enormous amount of time and dedication. That is why a lot of my artist friends are single and live on a very modest budget. Nevertheless, they say it is their destiny and do derive a lot of satisfaction from this line of work.
A few months ago I connected with a veteran Spanish artist called Angel Muriel. For over forty years he has been exhibiting in prestigious galleries in Spain. From recent conversations with Angel I can see he is very passionate about his work and that is visible in the finished results. He also appears very, very humble and therefore lets his paintings do the talking. Certainly it is a refreshing change because the art world can be notoriously pretentious. This was illustrated when I recently visited a gallery in Wellington, New Zealand, where out of all the pieces on display (what seemed to be) a pile of rubbish on the floor turned out to be an award winning installation..
What initially made me gravitate towards the artwork of Angel Muriel was his exquisite style of painting. In many ways it has a traditional feel about it and is built up in many layers. However, the subject matter is quite the contrary and has a surreal, theatrical quality about it. I love the three-dimensional aesthetic, especially the skillful use of light and shadows. This gives the artwork a solid and imposing appearance. Another main feature of Angel’s work is that figures are exceptionally distorted and presented in caricature form.
In my opinion Angel Muriel’s work displays a lot of depth and wouldn’t look out of place hung on the walls of the world finest homes. Certainly if you have a penchant for the dramatic and appreciate fine paintings on a large scale, then look no further.
For more information about Angel Muriel visit his website: http://angelmurielartista.simplesite.com
