Prisma invites Elena Sanmiguel Urbina for a live portrait session. Very special portraits with a distinctive stroke that are done in 10 minutes. You are welcome to choose your favorite color for the background and sit with Elena breathing…..
The marker glides, the hand dances, the eye selects. No one can move. The silence becomes eternal and for an instant we forget to breathe. I draw as my hand desires at that moment. The mind concentrated, the heart attentive, the hand follows quickly. One eye closed and the other open. The hand drags, goes up and down. It blunders and hits every face it draws.
When I look at someone closely, I contemplate. I observe the traces of time and its experiences, but, inevitably, I choose, among all the lines I see, the one I know best, the one that best represents them. Perhaps it is lines that best represent myself. I ask myself: what am I expecting to find among so many faces?
*** Doors open 7 pm ***
• • • ARTIST • • •
Elena Sanmiguel Urbina (Logroño, Spain 1984), took the Artistic Bachelor’s Degree and a Higher Course in Illustration and Graphic Design at the School of Arts and Crafts of Logroño. He prepared his entry in Fine Arts at the Academy of the artist Demetrio Navaridas. He continued his education in Madrid where he studied Fine Arts at the Complutense University.
In 2011 she won a scholarship that allowed her to finish her studies at the University of Fine Arts in Lisbon. And it was in this city, attracted by its calm and light, that she found the necessary inspiration to continue her artistic work. She has exhibited individually and collectively between Spain and Portugal. Of her solo exhibitions in Portugal highlights “Querer ficar” (2013), “Retratos” (2014) and “Somos todos a mesma coisa” (2017). She has made several self-publishing works and among them stands out, in 2018, the Baraja Republicana (Republican Card Deck).
Currently he divides his artistic side between various activities related to the fine and visual arts. For two years, with the support of the São Vicente parish council, she taught painting classes aimed at children, and continues to give individual classes in her atelier. As well as workshops with the little ones in different spaces. She collaborates with the Francophone magazine “Lisboéte” where, every quarter, she illustrates an article of historical nature. In 2019 she was invited to participate in the Festival “Lo Visual”(Spain) where she presented her collection “Portraits”. She worked as an art assistant to sculptor Matthias Contzen for his last exhibition in Paris, “Shapes in silence” (2019). In 2020 she wins first prize at the CALLE urban art festival in Madrid with her installation “Portraits” and was selected to participate in the mural art festival Camprovinarte (Spain) where she painted “La casa de la Catalina”.
In October 2020 she is selected to participate in the “PintaMalasaña” festival and wins first prize in the “Mahou urban talents” competition in Madrid. In 2021 she participates in the urban art festival “Crea” in Alcobendas with an ephemeral installation of her portraits on glass. The artistic residence “Conviver na arte” invites her to paint the doors of the Municipal Theater of Portalegre (Portugal). Within this Spain-Portugal exchange program, she travels to Cordoba to paint the portraits of the artists residing in the “Fundación Antonio Gala” (Spain). In the summer of 2021 she is invited by the direction of the art meeting “Bañarte” (Spain) to paint a mural about the gastronomy of the region.
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/elena_sanmiguel_urbina
FACEBOOK: https://es-la.facebook.com/retratosaovivo/
• • • SYNOPSIS • • •
His work is quite versatile, characterized by his firm and intuitive line, as well as the vivid colors he uses. In an autonomous and dynamic way he participates regularly in graphic fairs and popular markets, allowing him to realize one of his great passions, the portrait. For 5 years she worked at the famous Feira da Ladra flea market in Lisbon where, every Saturday, she portrayed people passing by. She considers herself an urban portraitist and has made this art her profession for some years now.
The pandemic forced her to reinvent her work by doing her portraits live via video call. She has also taken part in urban festivals as a muralist and has successfully intervened with portraits on glass.
