EsArteGallery presents at SAM a solo project by the 11-year-old Málaga-born artist Rafa B., a young creator who, at his age, approaches the canvas with great confidence, demonstrating strong knowledge of Art History, a broad aesthetic sense, and solid technical skill.

The Salón de Arte Moderno, under the title given to the 2024 edition, “Hall of Artistic Discoveries,” is shaping up as a perfect platform to give visibility to the work of this young artist. In this context, his work will become part of a shared visual dialogue with major artistic figures — renowned and historical — since the event brings together emblematic pieces by creators from different periods such as Darío de Regoyos, Zuloaga, Sorolla, Tàpies, Barceló, Equipo Crónica, Miró, Sonia Delaunay, and Lita Cabellut. This highlights the importance of looking at art from the past with a new perspective and approach, perfectly aligned with Rafa B.’s leitmotif.

Regarding the artist, this is not the first time he has presented his work to the public, but it may be the first occasion he does so before an audience that is both highly specialized and diverse. The participation of the very young painter Rafa B. in this essential gathering for lovers and specialists of modern art launches his profile through an innovative yet effective approach, introducing him into a market where he stands alongside the established painters he reinterprets.

His gallerist, Marifé Núñez, makes a bold and innovative commitment that validates an approach to art based on revision, updating, and reinterpretation, as Rafa B. revisits masters such as Picasso, Velázquez, El Greco, and Munch.

Rafa B.’s work is complex, serious, committed, and courageous, as the result of his painting combines virtuosity, the uninhibited vision of childhood, and the inevitable challenge of reworking imagery already embedded in the viewers’ minds.

His artistic proposals bring freshness through the iconography he uses, radiant — even fluorescent — colors, and daring compositions. His work reveals the enjoyment of someone who has the opportunity to reinterpret a masterpiece without fear, adding visual elements that bring it closer to our time and to the static, symbolic, recognizable figures he revisits.

As for his trajectory, despite his young age, he has been professionally active in art since 2019, when he won the first children’s drawing competition of the Málaga College of Architects. Since then, he has participated in collective and solo exhibitions in Spanish and international institutions and private spaces.