From tomorrow until April 27, the Ezkurdi gallery in Durango is hosting the exhibition “Ezer Handia: Isiltasunetik Ikuspenak” (“The Great Nothing: Visions from Silence”) by painter Martín de Diego Sádaba. On this occasion, the renowned illustrator moves away from the commercial sphere to present, for the first time, a collection entirely hand-painted. The exhibition stems from a deeply introspective creative period that began after the pandemic, which led him to rediscover traditional techniques after more than two decades focused on the digital world.
This Sopela resident of Navarre studied Graphic Design and Illustration at the Vitoria School of Arts and began painting in acrylic approximately 25 years ago. Although he has dedicated a good part of his career to illustrating fantasy universes as well-known as Star Wars and Magic the Gathering, and has collaborated with platforms such as Netflix and Prime Video, the artist wanted to take a different step. “I was very tired of being tied to the computer chair,” he says. “I felt like I needed to go back and find myself, to express myself honestly, to get what was coming out of my gut,” he adds.
In 2022, he decided to experiment with oil painting, a more complex and rich technique than acrylic, which he hadn’t used before. “I fell in love with it like a kid with new shoes,” he says. De Diego begins his creations with abstract blobs and lets the images emerge on their own. “When we’re little, we all draw, but most of us stop when we reach adulthood. I, on the other hand, am one of those kids who never stopped, so I never became an artist; I just kept painting,” he says. “I start with noise, with textures, without knowing what I’m going to do. And in that moment, a dialogue begins between me and the canvas.” By applying his personal style, his paintings began to sell even when they were unfinished. “Then I realized I had to exhibit them, because otherwise, not even my family would be able to see them,” the artist explains.
The stop in the village is part of a larger tour that has already taken in Sopela, Tudela, Olite, Calahorra, and Plentzia, and will continue to Barakaldo, Pamplona, Barcelona, and Madrid. His work has also been shown in Athens and in galleries in San Francisco and Long Beach (USA), where his dark and surreal approach has been particularly enthusiastically received. “It’s harder here to find an audience that likes this type of creation,” he admits. “But over time, a community is created. In the end, what matters most to me is that what I paint connects with people, that someone sees themselves reflected in or touched by something that even I don’t understand,” the artist explains.
The pieces that make up the exhibition invite you on a sensorial and emotional journey based on dreamlike landscapes and figures that oscillate between wakefulness and sleep. “You could find almost everything I do in your dreams, characters and visions that emerge when you empty your mind,” says de Diego. The exhibition includes works of varying sizes. Although they all follow a common theme—what he calls dark art or dark pop surrealism—there will be room for creative diversity. “It’s not a monotonous exhibition; I mean, I’m bringing a bit of variety in terms of aesthetics and content,” he notes. The opening is tomorrow from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and it can be visited weekday afternoons (during the same hours) and weekend mornings (from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.).
Those unable to attend and wishing to explore his paintings can do so in digital format through his social media channels, where he regularly shares his most recent works. To purchase any of them, you can contact him through the website behance.net/martindediego.
Source: elcorreo
