JUAN UGALDE
Bilbao, Spain, 1958
Received the Fundación Botín Art Grant in 1996

Untitled, 1995
Mixed media on canvas
100 x 100 cm
Gift of the artist, 1997

Ugalde constructs his mental images by collecting found or self-taken photographs, which he connects through brushstrokes whose texture contrasts with the mechanically produced images. The painted landscape also allows him to create a distortion of scale, generating a perceptual shift. For instance, a stack of discarded devices, superimposed over the real image of a building, takes on the appearance of an architectural element.

In his composition, he blurs the boundary between interior and exterior by collaging domestic elements—such as a floor lamp or the interior of a classroom—onto the landscape. A postcard inserted into the scene, depicting anthropomorphized teddy bears, reinforces the sense of mystery conveyed by the dominant tones of the composition. The reality of our time is a shifting mixture of what we see directly, unmediated, and what reaches us through the countless screens and interfaces we interact with. It is a new narrative space, or "metalandscape," that also recalls the world of comic books.