Félix de la Concha (born 1962) is a painter. Born in León, Spain, he resides in Pittsburgh and Madrid.
In 1985 he was selected to participate in the Primera Muestra de Arte Joven (Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid) where his work was awarded. Since then he has had several shows, mainly in Europe and the United States, including one person exhibitions in the Columbus Museum of Art (1998), Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh (1999), Hood Museum of Art (2009), the Frick Art & Historical Center (2004), Museo de Bellas Artes in Santander (1995), Museo del Chopo, México D.F. (1994), Centro Cultural La Recoleta in Buenos Aires (1993), and Rómulo Gallegos Center for Latin American Studies in Caracas (1993).
His work One A Day: 365 Views of the Cathedral of Learning, a series that he painted every day during one year while staying in Pittsburgh, is a permanent exhibit at the University of Pittsburgh's Alumni Hall. He has also done other series of paintings in different places such as Rome (the city where he went with a scholarship granted by the Spanish Academy and where he lived from 1989 until 1994), Santander, Seville and Cairo.
He has focused on a particular format of portraiture. It can be seen in the video the sitter talking, and the painting evolving from blank canvas to the very conclusion of the work. As painted neither from photographs neither from previous sketches, and usually with a single session (alla prima), eventual errors are keen to him. He introduces the term pictorial anacoluthon, going back to the Greek origin of the term anacoluthon (meaning inconclusive) and its rhetorical use: As with spoken language, there will be mistakes, both in the portrait's symmetry, and in its sense of completeness. However, what may be considered, at first, a formal mistake may also be a form of expression.Portraits with Conversation. Digital Library University of Iowa However he accomplishes accurate detail.
The first of this series was exhibited at the Museo Contemporáneo de Madrid in 2008.El arte que habla. Diario El País. April 20, 2008
51 portraits were exhibited at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, with the theme of Conflict and Reconciliation in 2009.
He has also immersed himself in communities, whether in New Hampshire and Vermont, Iowa or Pennsylvania, or in his native Spain. He has portrayed and interviewed Holocaust survivors around the world.Portraits and stories from the Shoah. The American Jewish World. March 13, 2013
More recently, he has become interested in portraits with music and synaesthesia, as his performance with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra.Performance with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra
On Fallingwater En Perspectiva he accepted the invitation to an extended residency with unprecedented access to the building and grounds.Spanish artist de la Concha captures various moods of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater masterpiece. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. September 2, 2007
List of exhibitions
One man shows 2026 Coreografías de la atención. La Térmica Cultural (CIUDEN). Ponferrada 2024 Iowa. Galería Fernández-Braso, Madrid. Text by Armando Montesinos. Splendor and Passion. Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton (Florida) Las Meninas under an Artificial Light. Museo Casa Botines Gaudí, León Not only in América. Galería Ármaga, León Vistas al Mar. Un Paisaje Pintoresco. Librería Gil, Santander 2022 Torres Blancas después de Fallingwater. Galería Fernández-Braso. Madrid. Text by María Escribano. Pórticos. Museo Lázaro Galdiano. Madrid. 2021 Maldito Realismo. Centro de Arte Faro de Cabo Mayor. Santander. 2019 This is America. Galería Siboney. Santander. 2018 Made in USA. Galería Ármaga. León. Text by Martín López-Vega. 2016 Pintando Albacete. Museo Municipal de Albacete. Albacete, Spain The Dinosaur Was Still in Iowa. CSPS Hall. Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 2015 Hermitage Artist Intrigue. Alfstad& Contemporary. Sarasota, Flórida Portraying Holocaust Survivors. Weisman Museum of Art. Minneapolis. 2013 Painting Iowa a pleno sol. Instituto Cervantes. Chicago. Balat? Plato Sanat. Estambul. Turquía. Curator Marcus Graf. 2012 Panorama WBZ. Through the Looking-Glass. Permanent installation at the Executive Campus of the University of St. Gallen. St. Gallen, Switzerland. Sangallensia IV. Christian Roellin Gallery. St. Gallen, Switzerland. 2011 Performance with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. Toledo Museum of Art. Toledo, Ohio.Toledo Symphony Orchestra. Pictures at an Exhibition Fallingwater En Perspectiva. Concept Art Gallery. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Portraits With Conversation: Fifty Writers With Anacoluthon.Museo Casa de Cervantes. Valladolid. 2010 Perspective and Location. BigTown Gallery. Rochester, Vermont. La historia más larga de Bilbao jamás pintada. Galerías Epelde Mardaras & Catálogo General, Bilbao. 2009 Public Portraits/Private Conversations. Hood Museum of Art and Baker Memorial Library, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. Price Tower Arts Center, Bartlesville, Oklahoma.Audio Interview on Fallingwater Park Well. Galería Trama. Barcelona. Melvin Gallery. Florida Southern College. Lakeland, Florida. 2008 Nueva Inglaterra. Galería Leandro Navarro, Madrid. Retratos con conversación. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Madrid. Fallingwater En Perspectiva . The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. 2007 Fallingwater En Perspectiva . The Barn at Fallingwater, Pennsylvania. 2006 Penn at Braddock. Concept Art Gallery. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 2005 Visiones de Nueva Inglaterra. Cooler Gallery. White River Junction, Vermont. Sala Luzán. Caja de Ahorros de la Inmaculada. Zaragoza. 2004 Awarded artist in the 17 Bienal de Zamora. Museo Etnográfico de Castilla y León, y Fundación Rei Afonso Enriques, Zamora. Spain. A Contrarreloj. A Race Against Time. The Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Museo Gustavo Maeztu, Estella. Spain Galería Dieciseis. San Sebastián-Donosti. Spain. ARCO'04. Galería Dieciseis, Madrid. 2003 Farewell to Pittsburgh. Concept Art Gallery. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Spanish artist again brushes up on his view of the city. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. March 4, 2003 2002 Galería Artnueve, Murcia. Spain. Lonja del Pescado. Ayuntamiento de Alicante, Alicante. Spain. Curator: Pedro Alberto Cruz. Galería Lourdes Carcedo, Burgos. Spain Pittsburgh, Galería Marlborough Madrid, Madrid. Text by Mark Francis 2001 Penn Avenue, from Pearl Street to Gross Street. Garfield Artworks. Presented by The Penn Arts Initiative (PAAI). Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Diario de la Habana. Centro Cultural Español. Miami, Florida. 2000 One A Day. 365 Views of the Cathedral of Learning. Alumni Hall (the old Masonic Temple). University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 1999 Columbus. Galería Antonio Machón, Madrid. One A Day. 365 Views of the Cathedral of Learning. Carnegie Museum of Art. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Curator: Madeleine Grynsztejn. Text by Mark Francis. Doble-Double. Concept Art Gallery. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 1998 El espíritu del lugar. Galería Rafael Ortiz, Seville. Spain. Columbus Cornered. Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio. Curator: Annegreth Nill. 1997 Fuera de campo. Galería Siboney, Santander. Spain. 1996 Borderline. Galería Fúcares, Madrid. Escenarios para una larga temporada. Galería Antonio Machón, Madrid. 1995 Veraneos en Santander. Museo de Bellas Artes. Santander. Spain. Curator: Juan Riancho. El cuadro grande no cabe en el coche. Galería Fúcares, Almagro. Spain. Ciriego. Espacio Caja Burgos, Burgos. Spain. 1994 Museo Universitario del Chopo, México D.F. Despliegues. Sala Cultural Caja España, Zamora. Sala San Torcuato de Caja España, Zamora. Casa de Cultura, Junta de Castilla y León. Galería Cirac, Zamora. Spain. Despliegues. Sala Cultural, Caja España, Valladolid. Spain. Despliegues. Casa de las Carnicerías de Caja España. Sala Cultural de Caja España, León. Spain. Galería Maese Nicolás, León. Spain. 1993 Centro Cultural Español, Santiago de Chile. Sala Rómulo Gallegos del CELARG, Caracas. Galería Antonia Jannone, Milán. Text by Martina Corgnati. Centro Cultural La Recoleta, Buenos Aires. Museo Juan B. Castagnino, Rosario-Argentina. Sala del Cabildo, Montevideo. Paesaggio di Passaggio. Temple Gallery, Rome. 1992 Nueve Meses en Donna Olimpia. Galería Gamarra y Garrigues, Madrid. 1991 One day exhibition of Nove Mesi a Donna Olimpia. Cortile di Donna Olimpia, Rome. Text by Ludovico Pratesi. Galería Clave, Murcia. Spain. 1989 Galería Gamarra y Garrigues, Madrid. Text by Juan Hidalgo. 1988 ARCO'88. Galería Estampa, Madrid. 1986 Galería Estampa, Madrid.
Works in museums and public collections
Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, Florida. USA. University of St. Gallen. St. Gallen, Switzerland. Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio. USA Hood Museum of Art. Hanover, New Hampshire. USA. Dartmouth College Library, Hanover, New Hampshire. USA. La Pedrera. Fundació Caixa Catalunya, Barcelona. Spain Caja de Ahorros de la Inmaculada, Zaragoza. Spain. Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. USA. David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. USA. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Madrid, Spain Lonja de Alicante. Ayuntamiento de Alicante, Alicante. Spain. The University of Pittsburgh's Alumni Hall (previously the Masonic Temple), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. USA. Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. USA. Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio. USA. Colección La Caixa, Colecció Testimoni, Barcelona. Spain. Teatro Real, Madrid. Spain. Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Madrid, Madrid. Spain. Museo d'Arte Costantino Barbella. Italy. Museo de Bellas Artes, Santander. Spain. Colección Saldañuela, Caja Burgos, Burgos. Spain. Ministerio de Cultura, Instituto de la Juventud, Madrid. Spain. Ministerio de Defensa, Madrid. Spain. Ayuntamiento de Albacete, Albacete. Spain. Consejería de Cultura de Murcia, Murcia. Spain. Colección Campsa. Madrid. Spain. Colección Banco de España, Madrid. Spain. Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid. Spain.
References
External links
felixdelaconcha.com Félix de la Concha's Portraits in Conversation Panorama WBZ. Through the Looking-Glass (Video interview) Review in Tagblatt on Panorama WBZ. Through the Looking-Glass (German) Review in Tagblatt on the St. Gallen Clock (German) Project with the Toledo Museum of Art and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra The Longest Story of Bilbao Ever Painted (Trailer) The Longest Story of Bilbao Ever Painted (on TV) Portraits of Holocaust Survivors Nueva Inglaterra. Paintings exhibit at Galeria Leandro Navarro in Madrid Portraits with conversation project in Spain/ exhibit Fallingwater En Perspectiva website Fallingwater En Perpectiva paintings Review on Fallingwater En Perspectiva Audio Interview on Fallingwater Bio of Félix de la Concha from Fallingwater En Perspectiva exhibit Review on A Contrarreloj exhibition Review on One A Day. 365 Views of the Cathedral of Learning Review on One A Day. 365 Views of the Cathedral of Learning Review on Farewell to Pittsburgh Review on Double-Doble Félix de la Concha's Portraits in Conversation Review in El País (Spanish) Review in ABC (Spanish) Review in ABC (Spanish) Review in Revista de Arte (Spanish) Article on his solo show at ARCO '04 (Spanish) Review on painting Holocaust Survivors Listen, Look, Likeness: examining the portraits of Félix de la Concha ArtsEditor.com article Digital collection featuring Félix de la Concha's portraits and corresponding audio and video interviews. Private Portraits/Public Conversations. Hood Museum of Art