Visions of the island's beauty.

GUILLEM NADAL: VISIONS OF

Based on the island of Mallorca, Guillem Nadal (1957) is numbered amongst the most important contemporary artists in Spain. Deeply connected with his homeland, his oeuvre is imbued with Nature’s life force, recalling the atmosphere, the contradictory personality and the landscape of the island itself. As a multidisciplinary artist in constant creative exploration, his corpus of works ranges from sculptures and site-specific art installations with organic elements to textural and abstract paintings.

Nadal’s art is a metaphor for the artist’s spiritual and emotional dimensions: it represents a unique present moment in life when micro and macro, light and dark, creative impetus and meditation merge together to find an unexpected visual equilibrium.

While presenting rare and immaculate biodiversity as well as breathtaking landscapes, Mallorca, since the beginning of the XX century, has been embracing a proliferation of artists' communities, museums, galleries and open studios. Drawn by the lure of the mountains, cliffs, caves, light and sky, the island became a cultural hub and a source of inspiration for artists from all over the world.

Born in Mallorca, Nadal feels the atavistic energy of the island, setting his art and his life within this unique context. Each plant in his garden, each corner of both his house and studio are expressions of the artist's creative vision and his harmonious partnership with the environment. Indeed Nadal’s research and artistic outcome are both deeply connected with nature, to the extent that - depending on the perspective - his works may appear as underground caves, deserted islands, or even waves washing the sands of a beach.

The textural consistency of his paintings and the streaks stretching out across the canvas recall both raw material and sculptural work. Playing with dichotomies, they feature a balanced tension between the calligraphic gesture of the artist and the texture of the artwork itself, emptiness and fullness, additions and denials, fervor and silence. His works explore the limits of abstract language showing a palette of colour that ranges from white to black to brown and shades of grey, and sometimes opting for dark green or blue.

“The artist gathers objects he finds and turns them into visions. They are metamorphosed at once in his hands and become new forms based on elements we know from outside of the studio.”

“The island seems to become a personification. Nadal is especially captivated by branches, by irregularities. He integrates the enigmas of nature, often worn away and transformed by time, into artifacts of poetic clarity, almost Cartesian seal.”

Grounding his practice in the abstract movements of the 1970s, and Conceptualism in particular, Guillem Nadal's work still resonates with various art movements, like the Object Trouvé, the Ready-made, sculptural work, and installations by Rodin, Brancusi, and Kavamata. His multimedium artworks are held in public and private collections such as the Museum of Modern Art in Nice, the Museum of Fine Arts in Lausanne, Centro Cultural de la Caja de Ahorros de Valencia, the Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona, and have been exhibited in prestigious museums, foundations, art fairs, including ARCO, Art Basel, FIAC, and Art Cologne.

Guillem Nadal's paintings on exhibition in Palazzo Bonomini, the home of KALPA in Volterra, Tuscany.

The ground floor of Palazzo Bonomini welcomes a selection of Nadal’s large format paintings on wood from the long-term project “Projecte per a una illa”, an artistic cartography of the island itself. Almost bas-reliefs, the paintings of this series are distinguished by the three-dimensional feeling of the surfaces, produced by painted strips of paper hand-placed by the artist, one by one to create semi-rounded silhouettes, reminiscent of waves or hilly landscapes. They reflect Nadal’s profound goal of combining painting and sculpture, questioning the limits and traditional features of both languages.

“Guillem Nadal's work is almost archeological, with remains and traces that exude humanity, [...] due to the way in which different layers and sediments of paint and other materials are deposited on his canvases and papers.”

Photos of the artworks: Courtesy of the Artist

Photos of the island of Mallorca and Nadal's studio: Olga Niescier for KALPA

Photos of KALPA Galleries: Simone Stanislai for KALPA

Quotes from: Pilar Ribal I Simó and Dieter Ronte

KALPA INSTAGRAM