Pepe Pétalo - AQUARIUS XL-NO RESERVE

Pepe Pétalo develops a personal imaginary of the artist, a territory where spontaneous drawing, intuitive gesture, and memory transform into painting. The origin of his work goes back to adolescence, when he began to draw a little cartoon with a big nose on the margins of his school notes, on napkins, or in his textbooks. Those doodles, born almost as an unconscious act, have over time become the germ of his own artistic language.
Pepe Pétalo has developed over 25 years his professional career at the Social Work of the former Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo, where in his last stage he was in charge of the Culture area and coordinator of the CAM Contemporary Art Collection, currently located at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Alicante (MACA). From that position, he actively participated in the design and organization of numerous itinerant exhibitions throughout Spain, as well as in the promotion of emerging artists.
Throughout his professional career he has had the opportunity to meet and collaborate with outstanding creators such as Carmen Calvo, Eduardo Arroyo, Cristina García Rodero, and Cristina de Middel, the latter President of the Magnum Photos Agency (Princess of Asturias Award for Concord). This proximity to contemporary art from cultural management has enriched his perspective, although his painting proposal remains faithful to the freshness and authenticity of the original stroke.
Pepe Pétalo’s painting seeks neither solemnity nor distance. On the contrary, it aims to be an invitation to smile, to distraction, and to a reunion with that playful side that often fades in adult life. His little cartoons and doodles, seemingly simple, hide a reflection on identity, memory, and the ability to create without fearing judgment.
“Universe Pétalo. Little cartoons and doodles” ultimately represents the public consolidation of an artistic universe that has accompanied the author since his youth and now unfolds with maturity, coherence, and a clear vocation to connect with the viewer through direct emotion, complicity… and why not… humor.

“Aquarius” is a luminous celebration of summer and the Mediterranean, where the sea seems to open a door to the universe. On a background of turquoises, greens, and blues, light stretches like a warm reflection under the sun, creating a serene, fresh, and vibrant atmosphere. In the center, an imagined marine world comes to life: fish, jellyfish, starfish, octopuses, and fantastical creatures swim among flowers, algae, and cosmic shapes. The clear lines, almost hand-drawn, evoke the freedom of a summer notebook and the joy of discovering underwater life. “Aquarius” unites the earthly and the heavenly, the real and the fantastic. It is an interior landscape bathed in sunlight, a poetic immersion in the Mediterranean, full of movement, color, light, mystery, and vital energy. The marked dimensions of the work are those of the painting once stretched and mounted on the frame. The actual measurements of the canvas are larger to be able to execute its mounting.

The work comes without a frame (professional packaging, rolled in a tube). It is delivered with an authenticity certificate.

You can follow my work on Instagram
@pepepetalo