JOSÉ MARÍA SICILIA
(1954) was born in Madrid. He studied at S.
Fernando School of Fine Arts between 1975 and 1979. He began to exhibit in
the beginning of the 80s in Paris at the Trans-Form Gallery. In 1984 he exhibits
solo in Madrid at Fernando Vijande Gallery and the next year in Lisbon. Since
then he presented more than 80 exhibitions, some of them in important
European, Latin-American, North-American and Asian artistic institutions. In
1987 the CAPC of Bordeaux, at the time one of the most important museums
in Europe, dedicated him an important exhibition that afterwards circulated
through several museums in Spain. His more recent exhibitions took place in
Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM), in Las Palmas, Canary Islands, in
2005. That same year he participated in a collective exhibition at Reina Sofía
Museum in Madrid called Las tres dimensiones de El Quijote – El Quijote y el
Arte Contemporáneo. In 2006 he had a solo in Madrid, and another
exhibition at Saint-Étienne Museum of Modern Art. Sicilia is one of the Spanish
artists that reached a substantial international notoriety since the 80s, when
he settled in Paris where he lives and works, dividing his time between Paris
and Mallorca, where he also spends a part of the year. His work focuses on
plastic relations between form and depth, from which derives a reflection on
life. In this respect, vegetable and flower structures gain a particular
metaphorical meaning: «I believe I have never spoken of flowers, but of
painting. For me they have the same usage as a vacuum cleaner, a sardine,
or a tree trunk. Because everything is nothing more than a question of shape
and depth, with some winking to certain periods of Art History», he said in a
relatively recent interview. Words that are in consonance with the
contemplative attitude that this painting has been following, inviting the
viewer to meditation and spiritual refuge conducive to dialogue with the
subtleties of this art.
His work is represented, among others in the following museums and
collections:
MoMA-Museum of Modern Art, New York
Guggenheim Museum, New York
Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid
Museo de Santa Cruz, Toledo
CAPC de Bordeaux
Cincinnati Museum, USA
Musée d’Art Contemporain de Toulouse
IVAM, Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Valencia
Colección Fundesco, Madrid
Colección Banco de España, Madrid
Mystetsky Arsenal Museum - Kiev, Ucrânia
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