Catalonia-born Mireya Masó studied at the Escola Eina, at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi and at the Faculty of Humanities of the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. She works mainly in photography, but does not class herself as a photographer: she sees photography as just another means of expression and not an end in itself. Indeed, she often sketches her photos before she takes them, i.e., she seeks to 'nuance' the scene in search of a preconceived image. Video is another major element in her toolbox, which she blends with photography at her exhibitions. Since the turn of the century, her work has focused on natural scenarios. This has been possible thanks to the enriching possibilities offered by the various artist's residencies that she has enjoyed. Mireya Masó's landscapes are domesticated and function as portraits of human beings (though no humans appear in them). The most clearly domesticated are perhaps her picture of an English garden (2000) which is reminiscent of British landscape art rooted in romanticism, and her work Antarctica: experiment no 1 (2006). In the latter, which is perhaps the wildest natural setting that she has portrayed, she generated images in which artifice and the human gaze in the face of icebergs are strongly present: 'In art, any gesture that goes beyond thought will inevitably change nature; that is why I seek to ensure that every action is fully justified. Antarctica is the visible presence of change', she has declared in regard to this, one of her best known works.
She has held residencies as an artist at the Centrum Beeldende Kunst of Rotterdam (Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 1998), the Stichting Kaus Australis (Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 2002), the Intercanvi Rhône-Alpes/Catalunya (France, 1998), the Europees Keramisch Werkcentrum (Den Bosch, the Netherlands, 1999), the Delfina Studio Trust Award (London, 2000-2001) and the Esperanza Base (Antarctica, Argentina, 2006).
Solo exhibitions of her work have been staged at the RAM Foundation (Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 2003), the Espace des Arts de Colomiers (France, 2002), the Valence Museum (Valence, France, 1999), the Europees Keramisch Werkcentrum (Den Bosch, the Netherlands, 1999), the Museu de l’Empordà (Figueres, Barcelona, 2001), Casa de América (Madrid, 2006) and the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica (Barcelona, 2010).
Catalonia-born Mireya Masó studied at the Escola Eina, at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Sant Jordi and at the Faculty of Humanities of the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. She works mainly in photography, but does not class herself as a photographer: she sees photography as just another means of expression and not an end in itself. Indeed, she often sketches her photos before she takes them, i.e., she seeks to 'nuance' the scene in search of a preconceived image. Video is another major element in her toolbox, which she blends with photography at her exhibitions. Since the turn of the century, her work has focused on natural scenarios. This has been possible thanks to the enriching possibilities offered by the various artist's residencies that she has enjoyed. Mireya Masó's landscapes are domesticated and function as portraits of human beings (though no humans appear in them). The most clearly domesticated are perhaps her picture of an English garden (2000) which is reminiscent of British landscape art rooted in romanticism, and her work Antarctica: experiment no 1 (2006). In the latter, which is perhaps the wildest natural setting that she has portrayed, she generated images in which artifice and the human gaze in the face of icebergs are strongly present: 'In art, any gesture that goes beyond thought will inevitably change nature; that is why I seek to ensure that every action is fully justified. Antarctica is the visible presence of change', she has declared in regard to this, one of her best known works.
She has held residencies as an artist at the Centrum Beeldende Kunst of Rotterdam (Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 1998), the Stichting Kaus Australis (Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 2002), the Intercanvi Rhône-Alpes/Catalunya (France, 1998), the Europees Keramisch Werkcentrum (Den Bosch, the Netherlands, 1999), the Delfina Studio Trust Award (London, 2000-2001) and the Esperanza Base (Antarctica, Argentina, 2006).
Solo exhibitions of her work have been staged at the RAM Foundation (Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 2003), the Espace des Arts de Colomiers (France, 2002), the Valence Museum (Valence, France, 1999), the Europees Keramisch Werkcentrum (Den Bosch, the Netherlands, 1999), the Museu de l’Empordà (Figueres, Barcelona, 2001), Casa de América (Madrid, 2006) and the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica (Barcelona, 2010).