Right now it is the recommended distance for all our interpersonal actions, it is the so-called social distance. We remember hugs, kisses and being able to touch each other. Everything will come back.

 

Meanwhile, we want to remember these paintings by the artist Michele del Campo (Sannicandro Garganico, Foggia, 1976), his characters do not maintain physical distance, but, perhaps by way of premonition, they maintain an emotional distance.

 

Under the name of "daydreamers" it represents a young idle and at the same time melancholic. The characters appear distant and immersed in an unrealized inner world, they are caught between fantasy and reality, they are engrossed, oblivious to their environment. Through this youthful dissatisfaction Michele del Campo is able to capture the essence of a whole generation.

 

His canvases talk about the complexity of the individual's feelings and the difficulty in relationships, but also about the desire to communicate. They are "close strangers" longing, deep down, to be able to interact.

He paints from life, but photography is also present in his creative process. His works are careful mixtures of various photographs and sketches where he combines models, objects and spaces in different times and places, universalizing the throbbing of the urban. He often paints in large formats, with the freshness and sensuality of a very personal brushstroke and light as one more protagonist in his compositions. It turns the viewer of his works into a Baudelerian witness to the action, whose readings he multiplies by imagining everything that falls outside the frame.

Born in 1976 in Sannicandro Garganico (Italy)

 

 

2007     Fine Arts Degree, Universidad Complutense, Madrid

2001     Bachelor of Design (Honours) Degree in Illustration and Printmaking, University of Dundee, UK

 

2020     Almas Nómadas, Ansorena, Madrid

2019     Untold Stories, CK Contemporary, San Francisco, USA

2018      Ansorena, Madrid

2017     Mentes errantes, Galería Enlace Arte Contemporáneo, Lima, Peru

            Way out and back, Palazzetto dell'Arte, Foggia, Italy

2015      The Fall, Westminster Reference Library, London

2013     Stranded and Adrift, Alpha Gallery, London

2012     Il Muto Rumore dell'Acqua, Imago Art Gallery, Lugano, Switzerland

2011     Viaje de no retorno, Galería Enlace Arte Contemporáneo, Lima, Peru

2010     Close Strangers, Mark Jason Gallery, London

2008     Urban Chic, Mark Jason Gallery, London

2007     Galería Jorge Alcolea, Madrid

2006     Gente di mare, Galería Fernando Alcolea, Barcelona

2005     Galería Jorge Alcolea, Madrid

            Galería Fernando Alcolea, Barcelona

2004     Galería Jorge Alcolea, Madrid

            Galería American Prints, Valencia

1998     Villa Zoya, Concorezzo, Milan

 

2015     Anthology, Aesthetica Art Prize, York

             Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London

            Colectiva de Verano, Galería Ansorena, Madrid

2013     Royal Institute of Oil Painters Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London

2012     Royal Society of Marine Artist Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, Londres

            Ten Paths to the Future, Imago Art Gallery, London

            Once pintores realistas + 1, Galería Jorge Alcolea, Madrid

2011     Summer Exhibition, Rarity Gallery, Mykonos, Greece

            Premio BMW de Pintura, Winning paintings 1986-2010, Casa de Vacas del Parque del Retiro, Madrid

2010     Captured, Catmose Gallery, Oakham, Rutland

            Originals10, Mall Galleries, London

2009     Threadneedle Art Prize, Mall Galleries, London

2008     Urban Chic, FRINGEMK Project Spaces, Milton Keynes

2007     Ideas sobre diarios, Faculty of Fine Arts, Madrid

            Premios BMW de Pintura, obras ganadoras 1986-2006, Granada

2006     Gran Formato, Galería Jorge Alcolea, Madrid

2005     Spagna il colore della passione, Milan, San Donato Milanese and Trento

            72º Salón de Otoño, Madrid

            X Certamen Unipublic de Pintura Deportiva, Oviedo and Las Rozas (Madrid)

            XIII National Printmaking Prizes 2004, MGEC Museo del Grabado Español Contemporáneo, Marbella

2004     Gran Formato, Galería Jorge Alcolea, Madrid

            Extraordinaria de verano, Galería Jorge Alcolea, Madrid

            XVI Premio de Pintura Fundación Amigos de Madrid, Museum of the City, Madrid

2003     70º Salón de Otoño, Madrid

            Extraordinaria de verano, Galería Jorge Alcolea, Madrid

            Pequeño formato, Galería Gema Lazcano,  Madrid

            Small Sizes, Galería Jorge Alcolea, Madrid

            X Premio Nacional de Grabado, MGEC Museo Español de Grabado Contemporáneo and CAAS Centro

            Andaluz de Arte Seriado, Alcalá la Real, Spain

2002     Tentaciones, Estampa 2002, Madrid

            Premio Arte 2002, Museo della Permante, Milan

2001     New Designers, Business Design Centre, London

            Realtà Riflesse, Basilica di San Celso, Milan

1997     Menotrenta, Spazio Hayek,  Milan

 

2018    Context Art Miami, Ansorena

2017    Context Art Miami, Ansorena

2016     London Art Fair, Mark Jason Gallery

2015     AAF Hong Kong, Mark Jason Gallery

2014     AAF New York, Mark Jason Gallery

             Patchings Art Festival, Nottingham

             Art in Action, Oxford, UK

2013     Asia Contemporary Art Show Hong Kong, Galería Jorge Alcolea

             London Art Fair, Mark Jason Gallery

2012     ArtMadrid, Galería Jorge Alcolea

2010     London Art Fair, Mark Jason Gallery

            Art Chicago, Mark Jason Gallery

            AAF New York, Mark Jason Gallery

            ArtLondon, Mark Jason Gallery

2009     London Art Fair, Mark Jason Gallery

            AAF New York, Mark Jason Gallery

            Art in Action Oxford

            Buy Art Manchester, ArtLounge Gallery

            ArtLondon, Mark Jason Gallery

2008     London Art Fair, Mark Jason Gallery

            MIART Milan, Galería Jorge Alcolea

            ArtLondon, Mark Jason Gallery

            Art in Action Oxford

2007     MIART Milan, Galería Jorge Alcolea

            ArtLondon, Mark Jason Gallery

2006     AAF London, Mark Jason Gallery

            AAF New York, Mark Jason Gallery

            Estampa Madrid, Museo del Grabado de San Clemente

            ArtLondon, Mark Jason Gallery

2005     Scope New York, Galería Jorge Alcolea

            Estampa Madrid, Galería Jorge Alcolea

2002     Estampa Madrid

 

2016      "Oil Painters of America Award" in ARC International Salon Competition, US

             Finalist The Artist's Magazine Art Prize

             Chroma Prize, Patchings Open Art Competition, Calverton, UK

            Finalist in the International 2014/15 Art Renewal Centre (ARC) Salon, Figurative Category

            Finalist The Artist's Magazine Art Prize

2014     Royal Talens Prize, Patchings Open Competition, Calverton, Nottinghamshire, UK

            Finalist at International 2013/14 Art Renewal Centre (ARC) Salon in Figurative and Still Life categories, US

            The Artist's Exhibition Prize, Patchings Open Competition, Calverton, Nottinghamshire, UK

            Third prize in the Art Event Evening, Annual Exhibition of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, 

            Mall Galleries, London

2013     Joint Second prize in the Art Event Evening, Annual Exhibition of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, 

            Mall Galleries, London

            Honourable Mention in the II Curso de Pintura Realista, course taught by Antonio López García and Andrés García Ibañez, Olula del Río

2012     Winner of Winsor and Newton Oil Prize, Royal Society of Marine Artists annual exhibition, Mall

            Galleries, London

            First prize Premios Luces to the Best Solo Exhibition of the Year in Peru, Lima

2009     Selected in the Threadneedle Art Prize, Mall Galleries, London

2008     Third Price Best of the Best, Art in Action, Oxford

2006     First Price XXI Premio BMW de Pintura

2005     First price X Certamen Unipublic de Pintura Deportiva, Madrid             

            First Printmaking Prize Espina y Capo, 72º Salón de Otoño, Madrid

2003     First prize XIV Premio de Pintura Rápida Fiestas del Pilar, Madrid

            Second prize Premio Nacional de pintura X aniversario Universidad de Huelva, Spain

            Third prize VIII Premio Unipublic de pintura deportiva, Madrid

2002     First prize, Certamen de Pintura XXV Aniversario de C. E. V. Valencia

            Selected in the Premio Arte 2002, Museo della Permante, Milan