Composition nº18 Painting

My name is José Mistou Pascual. I was born in Barcelona in 1956 and I live in this city. I am a graphic designer and an advertising director. I studied graphic design at Centro de Arte y Diseño de la Escuela Massana in Barcelona. I started my profession as an apprentice in a small studio. As a graphic designer, after my studies, I developed my creativity at Natal Moré’s studio. Lately, I worked in the publishing sector doing a lot of book covers for Bruguera Publishers. My professional work as a designer let me share at Albert Chust’s studio some projects for the MMLB agency, the number one agency in these moments. In 1982, I decided to create my own studio, from which I continue looking for concepts and putting them into effect so as to get the accuracy that the changing market is demanding nowadays. I try to be very visual. I think I am a good observer. I like knowing what is happening in life and above all, I show the world in my art. My passion is to understand all that it’s attractive to me and all that touches me. When I watch a work of art for the first time, and I get an emotional answer, from an open-minded point of view, my discernment grows and developes. My first painting referencies were Eusebio Sempere, Mondrian, Sol LeWitt, Elena Asins... and above all Pablo Palazuelo, who I discovered in the year 2006 in a retrospective dedicated to this artist at MACBA, an exemple that shows how good exhibitions help us generating a better art. The abstract shapes that I use are strong elements of balance, horizontal and vertical lines that fill nearly the whole surface of the canvas. Before doing the final work, I do sketches that give shape to a large process of elaboration, planning, organising, putting in order and controlling each and all the lines, so the fulfilment on the canvas developes to a mechanical question. In most of my works, the paintings are presented as harmonic compositions formed by intertwined lines with strictly organised surfaces. There’s a marked sense of balance achieved by the compensation of shapes, clear spaces and well-limited colours. The colour is smooth and it presents no trail of any visible brushstrokes. What I want to express with my work is the harmony through the balance of the lines.