Autorretrato en el estudio
Oil on canvas
130 x 195 cm
2021
Eduardo Milan’s work is in first glance extremely analytical. His paintings follow a rigorous making process that departs from the strict observation of reality and his close environment, from his house to his city and the Andalusian surroundings, to himself. Each canvas is produced across a series of different live sessions, taken repetitively at the same axact spot, observing the same exact image. The tools employed to paint are, among others, ancient measuring instruments such as compasses, used to
measure ratio and perspectives during classical antiquity. This incredibly accurate working method is the reason of Milan’s low production rate, which in ideal conditions reaches up to 2 paintings in 3 months.
Nevertheless, the way the paintings are made is fundamental because it generates a unique result to the viewer. While we are confronted with a static picture, a faithful representation of reality fixed on canvas, the impression left behind is the one of permeating movement. As we can observe in the self portrait series by the artist, the eyes of the beholder oscillate constantly between the near and the far, entering and exiting the pictorial surface in an interplay of closeness. This is because what we are looking at is in fact an accumulation of moments: fragments of the self registered in a succession of hours, days, months. The contrast between the immediacy of the image and the temporal duration of the making process pervades the surfaces, allowing his works to feel oddly intimate, as if we as well are made part of the artist’s self discovery.
Eduardo Millán (Cadiz, ES, 1979) finished his MFA at the Faculty of Arts of the Sevilla EndFragmentUniversity in 2002 and completed his PhD in 2012 with honours. in 2018 he completed the Avigdor Arikha Artist Residence JSS (Jerusalem Studio School) in Civita Castellana (Italia). Since 1999 Millán has participated in over 80 exhibitions and has won 18 international art prices.
His work can be found in the permanent collections of Fundación Focus-Abengoa (Sevilla); Fundación Museo Ibáñez (Olula del Río, Almería); Museo de Santa Clara (Zafra, Badajoz); Colección Forum Filatélico; Fundación Gaceta Regional de Salamanca; Museo de Alcalá de Guadaira (Sevilla); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Infanta Elena. Tomelloso (Ciudad Real) Fundación Ramón Areces; Joseph Rivera Foundation (Miami).
-Text by Sara van Bussel