Rafael Canogar

Toledo, 1935

Rafael Canogar trained in Madrid, at the studio of painter Daniel Vázquez Días, alongside fellow artists Cristino de Vera and Agustin Ibarrola. His beginnings were forged in undisputed imitation of the cubism of Picasso and Braque, and the surrealism of Joan Miró, before he developed into formalist abstract art.

The next significant stage of his carrer, after taking classes with models at the Fine Arts Circle in Madrid, was his part in the creation of the El Paso group (1957-1959), with a first exhibition at the Bucholz gallery with Manuel Millares, Antonio Saura, Luis Feito, Manuel Rivera, Pablo Serrano, Juana Francés y Antonio Suárez.

Technically, his early work was a combination of oils with various kinds of temepera, to which he later added photographic elements. In the early sixties, he left the informalist current to approach reality, reducing colour in order to play with blacks and whites, and returning gradually to the abstractionism which he has discovered in Paris. His technique continued to develop with materials like polyester, acrylic, wood or fibreglass, which he used to make his characteristic collages-works bordering on sculpture.

His carrer as an artist was rewardered by public and critical acclaim at many individual exhibitions and by the selection of his works for inclusion in collections such as the Reina Sofia Museum, Museum of Abstract Spanish Art in Cuenca, Museum of Modern Art in New York, SCH Collection, Vatican Museum in Rome, Art Institute in Chicago, and Rufino Tamayo Museum in Mexico, among many others. As well as receiving countless awards, such as the National Painting Prize (Madrid, 1982), he was named Chevalier dans l´Ordre des Arts e des Letres (France, 1985) and received the Commendation of the Order of Isabel la Católica (Madrid, 1991), and the Gold Medal of Merit in Fine Arts from the Spanish State in 2003.

2007 Rafael Canogar Controlled Demolition Mixed on paper 121 x 91 cm.