I arrived at painting through poetry
José María Bermejo is a painter of extraordinary quality and a defined and coherent career who could well be considered immersed in the contemporary paths opened up by the work of Sevillian artists in Spanish painting in the 1970s, but at the same time in an "extra-territorial" way.
Originally from the same town as Gerardo Delgado and José Ramón Sierra and a contemporary of Ignacio Tovar, Bermejo follows his own path, from rather sign-like and expressionist beginnings, but with a gesticulation that could be defined as cold, to an interest in the linguistic elements of painting. The two pieces in the collection, both Untitled, belong to two different stages in his production: the first, from 1982, corresponds to his first peak on the Spanish scene, when his admiration for the more exotic and colourist Frank Stella and the balance between spontaneity and control are more perceptible; the second, seven years later, is part of a period of transition towards formulations closer to minimalism.
