José María Sicilia has been one of the preeminent figures in Spanish visual arts since the 1980s. He studied at the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid. In 1980, he settled in Paris, and just two years later held his first solo exhibition at the Trans/Form gallery. It was followed by shows at the Galería Fernando Vijande (Madrid, 1984) and the Blum Helman Gallery (New York, 1985).
From his earliest period, Sicilia's art was characterised by his investigation of a pictorial language incorporating the notion of the 'accident'. Thus, light, time and temperature all become determining elements in the development of his work. His work is based on 'minimum intervention', in which the voluble and changing nature of the materials —acrylics, pigments, inks, crayons— play a fundamental role in the conclusion of his pieces. 'Everything works, all the factors come together in the painting, but in the end it is just a "pond painting". I make ponds in which I deposit pigment, but they make themselves in their own way', remarked the artist on the occasion of an exhibition of his work at the Galería Soledad Lorenzo in 2000.
In 1989 José María Sicilia was awarded the National Award for Plastic Arts; in 2015 he received the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts; and in 2016, the National Graphic Art Award from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. His latest solo exhibitions have been at the Mint Museum (Madrid, 2017); the Musée Delacroix (Paris, 2015); Meessen De Clercq (Brussels, 2015); the Palacete del Embarcadero (Santander, 2014); the Galerie Chantal Crousel (Paris, 2014); the Matadero (Madrid, 2013); Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art (Fukushima, Japan, 2013); and Galería Soledad Lorenzo (Madrid, 2011).
José María Sicilia has been one of the preeminent figures in Spanish visual arts since the 1980s. He studied at the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid. In 1980, he settled in Paris, and just two years later held his first solo exhibition at the Trans/Form gallery. It was followed by shows at the Galería Fernando Vijande (Madrid, 1984) and the Blum Helman Gallery (New York, 1985).
From his earliest period, Sicilia's art was characterised by his investigation of a pictorial language incorporating the notion of the 'accident'. Thus, light, time and temperature all become determining elements in the development of his work. His work is based on 'minimum intervention', in which the voluble and changing nature of the materials —acrylics, pigments, inks, crayons— play a fundamental role in the conclusion of his pieces. 'Everything works, all the factors come together in the painting, but in the end it is just a "pond painting". I make ponds in which I deposit pigment, but they make themselves in their own way', remarked the artist on the occasion of an exhibition of his work at the Galería Soledad Lorenzo in 2000.
In 1989 José María Sicilia was awarded the National Award for Plastic Arts; in 2015 he received the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts; and in 2016, the National Graphic Art Award from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. His latest solo exhibitions have been at the Mint Museum (Madrid, 2017); the Musée Delacroix (Paris, 2015); Meessen De Clercq (Brussels, 2015); the Palacete del Embarcadero (Santander, 2014); the Galerie Chantal Crousel (Paris, 2014); the Matadero (Madrid, 2013); Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art (Fukushima, Japan, 2013); and Galería Soledad Lorenzo (Madrid, 2011).