Pepe Pétalo - The Dreaming Sea

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 dates back to adolescence, when he began drawing a little figure with a large 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 seed of a language of his own.
Pepe Pétalo has spent 25 years developing his professional career at the Social Work of the now-defunct Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo, where in his final stage he was responsible for the Culture area and coordinator of the CAM Contemporary Art Collection, currently located at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Alicante (MACA). From that position, he actively participated in the design and organization of numerous itinerant exhibitions across Spain, as well as in promoting emerging artists.
Throughout his professional career he has had the opportunity to meet and collaborate with prominent 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 closeness to contemporary art from cultural management has enriched his outlook, although his pictorial proposal remains faithful to the freshness and authenticity of the original stroke.
Pepe Pétalo’s painting does not seek solemnity or distance. On the contrary, it aims to be a lure for a smile, distraction, and the reunion with that playful part that is often diluted in adult life. His little figures and doodles, seemingly simple, hide a reflection on identity, memory, and the capacity to create without fear of judgment.
“Universe Pétalo. Doodles and scribbles” ultimately represents the public consolidation of an artistic universe that has accompanied the author since his youth and that now unfolds with maturity, coherence, and a clear vocation to connect with the spectator through direct emotion, complicity... and why not... humor.
This painting presents a fantastic, joyful, and imaginative marine world. In the center lies a large turquoise creature, covered with circles and shapes of different colors, giving it a fun and handmade look. Around it we find fish, a crab, a turtle, a submarine, and small characters of fantastical appearance. The beige and earth-toned background is decorated with suns, stars, flowers, spirals, and other symbols that seem to belong to a world of fairy tales. The turquoise, blue, green, orange, and brown tones create a warm and harmonious contrast. The dark wooden frame reinforces its traditional character. Taken together, it conveys a sense of fantasy, innocence, joy, and adventure, as if it were a scene from a child’s dream.
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 (professionally packaged, rolled in a tube). It is delivered with a certificate of authenticity.
You can follow my work on Instagram
@pepepetalo