Darío Villalba started at the San Fernando Fine Arts Academy in 1957 and at the same time studied Law and Philosophy & Literature as an external student. In 1962, he was awarded a grant by the Rodríguez Acosta Foundation of Granada to study at Harvard University, where he came into contact with North-American pop art. His work, which started from the pictorial, then shifted with the creation of a radical innovation in the use of photography emulsified on canvas as a medium, moving away from conceptual and pop art techniques towards a more metaphysical, transcendental use of the image, by means of which he depicted essential aspects of the individual in a dehumanised society. He worked on referential photographs – taken by himself or from the media – expanding or fragmenting them or altering them with lines, brushstrokes and varnishes, in a process of concealment and deconstruction that constantly sabotages their visual language. The Encapsulated Roses series (1964), which comprises hanging sculptures made of methacrylate, was unveiled at the Spanish Pavilion at the 1970 Venice Biennale. The series was met with great international acclaim, which was confirmed with his second generation of ‘encapsulates’, which won him the International Painting Award at the 1973 São Paulo Biennial.
He has since staged solo shows at leading international venues including the Frankfurter Kunstverein (Frankfurt, Germany, 1974); the Stadt Museum (Bochum, Germany, 1975); the Heidelberg Kunstverein (Germany, 1976); the Valencia Institute of Modern Art (Valencia, 1994); the Kursaal Donostia (San Sebastián, 2001); the Centre for Contemporary Art of Galicia (Santiago de Compostela, 2001); and a major anthology of his work at the Reina Sofía (Madrid, 2007). The Luis González Robles Museum at the University of Alcalá de Henares organised an exhibition of his work in 2016. In 1983, he received the Spanish National Award for Plastic Arts; in 2002 he entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando as a full member, and in 2003 he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts.
Darío Villalba started at the San Fernando Fine Arts Academy in 1957 and at the same time studied Law and Philosophy & Literature as an external student. In 1962, he was awarded a grant by the Rodríguez Acosta Foundation of Granada to study at Harvard University, where he came into contact with North-American pop art. His work, which started from the pictorial, then shifted with the creation of a radical innovation in the use of photography emulsified on canvas as a medium, moving away from conceptual and pop art techniques towards a more metaphysical, transcendental use of the image, by means of which he depicted essential aspects of the individual in a dehumanised society. He worked on referential photographs – taken by himself or from the media – expanding or fragmenting them or altering them with lines, brushstrokes and varnishes, in a process of concealment and deconstruction that constantly sabotages their visual language. The Encapsulated Roses series (1964), which comprises hanging sculptures made of methacrylate, was unveiled at the Spanish Pavilion at the 1970 Venice Biennale. The series was met with great international acclaim, which was confirmed with his second generation of ‘encapsulates’, which won him the International Painting Award at the 1973 São Paulo Biennial.
He has since staged solo shows at leading international venues including the Frankfurter Kunstverein (Frankfurt, Germany, 1974); the Stadt Museum (Bochum, Germany, 1975); the Heidelberg Kunstverein (Germany, 1976); the Valencia Institute of Modern Art (Valencia, 1994); the Kursaal Donostia (San Sebastián, 2001); the Centre for Contemporary Art of Galicia (Santiago de Compostela, 2001); and a major anthology of his work at the Reina Sofía (Madrid, 2007). The Luis González Robles Museum at the University of Alcalá de Henares organised an exhibition of his work in 2016. In 1983, he received the Spanish National Award for Plastic Arts; in 2002 he entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando as a full member, and in 2003 he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts.