Victor Mira

Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs

The paintings of the Spanish artist Victor Mira manifest a nightmarish sensibility. He paints in thick, textured oil; his simplified, stylized images—primarily animal figures, distorted humans, and skeleton heads—are trapped in bold, tight compositions. When Mira allows himself enough space, he can create panoramic scenes that mix spiritual refinement with a kind of primitive violence. The artist outlines his figures with thick, black contour lines. The grounds into which they are set are generally a dark reddish-brown. As a result, there is a pervasive murkiness to all his paintings, along with a surface build-up of scumbled paint that is often excessive.

Indeed, Mira’s visions of chaotic struggle between oppressors and victims are obsessive. The relentlessness of his approach, as well as the title of his show”—You Can’t Sleep in Spain”—make Mira seem a restless soul. A catalogue photo

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