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JUAN UGALDE (Bilbao, 1958). Untitled, 1998. Mixed media on canvas. Retains label on the back of the Soledad Lorenzo Gallery (Madrid). Signed and dated on the back. Measurements: 200 x 200 cm. Treated as a pictorial photograph, in this work Juan Ugalde captures a crowd gathered together enjoying their leisure time. This apparently simple image in terms of subject matter acquires a multiplicity of readings once the viewer looks at the details. Firstly, the people who seem to be enjoying their free time, as if they were on a terrace, are seated on chairs with the emblem of the fast-food chain McDonald's, a symbol of capitalism, standing out. In the foreground and on a really small scale, the artist sets up a small swimming pool where there is no room for the protagonists of the scene, who are totally oblivious to his presence. In addition, dominating the crowd, a Flemish woman and her male counterpart appear to be leaving on the back of their horses. Finally, in the upper area, flanking the image, Ugalde introduces various shades of colour in the form of pixels that break with the monotony of black and white. In short, a whole set of details that creates an image of great semantic depth that invites the viewer to rethink identity, the ideal of collectivity and individuality itself. It is usual in Ugalde's work of the nineties to combine contradictory languages, dissimilar realities, visual paradoxes..., as in this case the meeting of expressionist brushstrokes, abstract strokes and the irruption of an apparently discordant figurative element. Juan Ugalde began his artistic training at the School of Fine Arts in Madrid. In 1986 he moved to New York thanks to a Fullbright scholarship, and there he formed the group Estrujenbank with his wife, Mariano Lozano and Dionisio Cañas. It was a group of Spanish artists recognised as one of the most important of the late 20th century. Their creative horizons seemed to have no limits, giving rise to performances, videos, as well as the creation of a museum space, the Estrujenbank Exhibition Hall. It was in this space that a new way of understanding art was developed, transmitting it from a different point of view to the institutional and commercial art of the time. Thanks to this artistic activity, Juan Ugalde became known in the mid-eighties with a work that explored the language proposed by abstract expressionism, although nowadays his works present spaces where painting and photography meet. Ugalde's work is represented in different centres of great artistic relevance such as the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo, the Museo de Bellas Artes de Álava, the Patio Herreriano in Valladolid, the Artium in Vitoria, the MUSAC in León, the Coca-Cola, La Caixa, Banesto, ICO and Marcelino Botín Foundations, and in the collection of the Bank of Spain.