Helena Almeida: 'Seduzir' [To Seduce, 2002] (detail)

Collection

Autorretrato de Beckmann con esmoquin en 1927 [Self-portrait of Beckmann in a Dinner Jacket in 1927]

Image caption
NÉSTOR SANMIGUEL DIEST

Autorretrato de Beckmann con esmoquin en 1927 [Self-portrait of Beckmann in a Dinner Jacket in 1927]

  • 2009
  • Acrylic, ink, paper, canvas
  • 162,5 x 130 cm
  • Cat. P_785
  • Acquired in 2013
By:
Beatriz Herráez

Néstor Sanmiguel Diest's work has always been linked to what he calls the 'painter's trade'. His work as a pattern maker in a textile factory, his training in techniques of restoration and the extensive literary and musical knowledge he has accumulated over the years are all reflected in the construction of his enigmatic paintings, encrypted by the superimposition of different weaves of signification.

The Painter and the Model (2001) and Self-portrait of Beckmann in a Dinner Jacket in 1927 (2009) were both made from a juxtaposition of layers of information —clippings, photographs, documents, drawings, invoices and writings— which he accumulated in his studio for later inclusion in his paintings. He then practically erased or camouflaged them behind the gridlines that structure the surfaces of the two pictures. These materials are integrated into the works following strict protocols, generating patterns that function as syncopated geometric glazes.

Néstor Sanmiguel Diest has a precise method which he uses like an 'instruction manual' to create his pieces. These systems of rules, combinations and permutations are modified by a process of controlled chance, a feature that is key to any understanding of his work. His painting may follow the maxims or form part of an exercise that is resolved from the possibility of 'reading the image and seeing the word', in line with that Baroqueness indicated in some of the titles. Sanmiguel Diest explained the process by which he executed the series Baroque Emotions (1997-2005) as follows: 'The forms stored there began to generate tireless, desperate stories. So I turn every surface into a territory of random (and, throughout 1997, urgent) encounters'.

Beatriz Herráez

 
By:
Beatriz Herráez
Néstor Sanmiguel Diest
Zaragoza 1949

Néstor Sanmiguel is known for his late vocation as an artist. It might be more accurate, however, to say that he (voluntarily) took an unconventional trajectory in his career. He trained as a tailor at the Official School of Madrid and worked as a pattern maker in a textile factory until the end of the 1990s. In 1985 he and artists Rufo Criado, Rafael Lamata and Jesús Max, among others, founded the artists' collective A Ua Crag, a gallery-space in Aranda de Duero. From then until he left the group in 1991, he promoted the Red District and II Partido de la Montaña [Second Mountain Party] factions, which were largely involved with performative art with a strong element of political criticism.

In the 1990s, he struck out on a solo career, developing work that defied classification. From the outset, one can see the construction of his own language, in which he combined literature and pictorial practise. As he put it, the resources he constantly included in his images were 'quotations, symbols and marginal notes'. In 1998, Sanmiguel Diest exhibited Esferas doradas y armas de saqueo en las puertas del río [Golden spheres and Weapons of Pillage at the River Gates] at the Galería Trayecto in Vitoria-Gasteiz. It marked his first use of a grid, a feature that was to become a constant of all his subsequent work.

Néstor Sanmiguel Diest has exhibited regularly with Galería Maisterravalbuena in Madrid and Carlier/Gebauer in Berlin. His work has also been shown in institutions and art centres such as the Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid, 2016); La Conservera (Murcia, 2015); the Spanish Cultural Centre in Buenos Aires (2014); Montehermoso Cultural Centre (Vitoria-Gasteiz, 2012); and the Castilla y León Museum of Contemporary Art (León, 2007).

Beatriz Herráez

 
«Frieze Art Fair» (London, 2013). «Néstor Sanmiguel Diest La peripecia del autómata», Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. MNCARS (Madrid, 2022).
Vv.Aa. Frieze Art Fair London 2013, London, Frieze Art Fair, 2013. Vv.Aa. Colección Banco de España. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Banco de España, 2019, vol.3. Beatriz Herráez, Peio Aguirre and Ángel Calvo Ulloa Néstor Sanmiguel Diest. La peripecia del autómata, Madrid and Vitoria-Gasteiz, MNCARS, ARTIUM, 2022, p. 80.