MIGUEL ANGEL
BATALLA
From: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Born: 1936
Died: 1993
Main Artistic Themes: Taoism
Miguel Ángel Batalla was born in the suburbs of Buenos Aires in 1936, he
resided in Sao Paulo, Brazil since 1969 and moved to Barcelona in 1984
where he died in January 1994.
In Brazil, his work stood out for its simplicity
and, at the same time, for its complex style, derived from the tensions and
the harmonious relationships expressed in the Taoist way of life.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Miguel Angel Batalla was born in Wilde, Province of Buenos Aires, on October 25, 1936. He studied for eight years with the teacher Demetrio Urruchuúa and completed his training at the Higher School of Fine Arts Ernesto de la Carcova and the Association of Fine Arts. During the first period of his artistic activity, which lasted until 1968, Miguel Angel Batalla was influenced mainly by the style of his master, but also by Lino Spilimbergo.
In 1965 and 1967 he obtained the painting prize of the Israeli Association and the one granted by the Workshop of the Graphics, respectively. In 1967, he was also awarded the YPF honor award.
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In 1969, he traveled to Brazil with a scholarship granted by the embassy of that country to study engraving with Professor Augusto Rodríguez. He settled there with his wife Amanda Martino until 1984, living in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. During that time, he made occasional trips to Buenos Aires, during some of which he exhibited individually and participated in collective exhibitions.
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In Brazil, the paintings of Miguel Angel Batalla began a transformation that led to the use of flat colors and, finally, the style that best characterized it: that of a painting inspired by prehistoric rock art and African sculptures, which figures occupy the entire space of the painting, which suggests a primitive frieze. This style, eminently personal, was very well studied and characterized by several art critics who knew how to understand and value it. Towards the end of this Brazilian period of his art, Miguel Angel Batalla began to transfer his pictorial approach to sculpture.
In 1985, after residing in Buenos Aires for some time, he went to Barcelona, where he settled permanently. In 1990 he made a trip to the East, traveling mainly to Thailand and Indonesia. The impact of the landscapes and colors of that region produced a new change in the paintings of Miguel Ángel Batalla, which took him almost to a "landscape abstraction." This change was interrupted by its premature death on January 31, 1993, in Barcelona.
There are works by Miguel Ángel Batalla in important private collections in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, aris, Milan, Barcelona, Tokyo, and Bangkok. The Museum of Modern Art of San Pablo has two works by this artist in his repertory. In Buenos Aires, there is a large mural painted for him in the School of Biodanza, as well as a portrait of the musician Hector Villalobos at the School of the Republic of Brazil.
Past Exhibitions
