Miquel Barceló – back to the matter

There is something timeless about Miquel BARCELO’s work. The Spanish artist explores fundamental themes: the passage of time and organic metamorphosis. He grinds up matter, plays with impastos, makes gashes in the pictorial surface to which he adds heterogeneous materials. Barceló was fascinated by André Breton, whose idea of ‘rencontre fortuite’ or ‘chance encounter’ (of objects and ideas) certainly inspired his incongruous combinations of paint and sand, ash and remains…

The craze for Barceló’s work came early since he was only 17 years old when a Spanish gallery first exhibited his work. Today his works are much in demand, with 2006 sale proceeds amounting to a record year in excess of €5.1 million, 1 million higher than the previous year. Between 1997 and 2006, his price index showed a spectacular increase of 1,150%. Attracted by the significant capital gains on resale, collectors are tempted to part with their works and supply an increasingly abundant market: in 2006, transactions were 84% higher than in 2005.

Barceló saw his first million-ticket sale in 2002 for an impressive work entitled Around the Black Lake (230 x 296 cm, £850,000, at Sotheby’s London on 26 June). Following this record, it took three years of patience for this exploit to be repeated: between June 2005 and June 2007, no less than four works surpassed the million dollar threshold. Amongst them, El Segundo, which saw a second round of sale-room inflation, selling for £270,000 in June 2000 (around $400,000) at Christie’s London and then for £620,000 in June 2005 at the same auction house (close to $1.13 million).

The large formats easily sell for more than $100,000. Collectors with a more modest budget concentrate on the small-sized canvases, whose prices are unquestionably rising. In March 1996, £10,000 was enough to acquire the still life Cuttlefish and Pear (46 x 55 cm, Christie’s London), whereas a buyer would have needed twice that in April 2006 for a smaller work entitled Sausage (25.5 x 33 cm, Christie’s-South-Kensington, London, 22 000 £). A work of the same size as Cuttlefish and Pear sparked, moreover, a serious sale room battle in June 2006: entitled Plaza con 2 puertas, Christie’s presented a work rich in materials, combining oil, sand and paper on canvas, which sold for £320,000, double its low-end estimate (London)! Currently, it is difficult to acquire a small oil (around 20 cm) for less than $30,000. The inks and watercolours are more accessible. Last April, for example, a 1987 watercolour, Fruit Composition, changed hands for €15,000 at Artcurial Paris. Even more affordable, the small ink drawing of figures, sold for €4,500 on 3 January last at Lamas Bolano in Barcelona.

In addition to paintings, Barceló also works in three dimensions (bronzes and ceramics). He first experimented with clay modeling during a stay in Mali in 1995 and has since considered his terracottas as so many offshoots of his painting. However, the market remains to be convinced: to date, a ceramic sold by Phillips, de Pury & Company NY in June 2004 for $18,000 and a small stoneware piece, Clovelles, sold for €22,000 in Madrid ($26,600, Ansorena, 4 April, 2006).