Miquel Barceló has shown to be one of the great artists of our times from his very youth. The language of his art is extraordinarily original and he is an exceptionally creative talent in all the variations of the plastic arts.

Born in Felanitx, Majorca in 1957, Miquel Barceló is an artist in the Mediterranean tradition first introduced to the world of painting as a child by his mother, who is also an artist in the landscape tradition of Majorca. His first individual exhibition was in 1974 at the Galería d'Art Picarol, Cala d'Or, Majorca, where he exhibited a series of drawings with insects and molluscs on printed paper. In the mid-seventies he moved to Barcelona, where the outstanding feature of his work came to be the use of materials arranged in thick layers. He achieved international acclaim when he took part in Kassel's Documenta VII in 1982. His work is notable during this period for its personal expression, applied to still lives and self-portraits. He experiments with pigments and new painting techniques, incorporating both organic and inorganic objects into his work.

An indefatigable traveller, Barceló divides his time between Paris, Mali and Majorca. His work on paper acquires major importance during his periods in Africa; this is organised into series, notebooks or diaries where the artist describes his impressions and draws his surroundings; he experiments with pigments and local clays; his works gradually free itself of a saturation of elements to become enormous white, desert-like canvasses. At the same time he has produced a wealth of sculptures, experimenting with the effect of termites on the work he produces on paper, thus demonstrating his constant fascination with the transitory facets of material, its 'organic-ness' and transient nature.

His work has been exhibited in Madrid's Soledad Lorenzo gallery, the Bruno Bischofberger in Zürich, the Whitechapel in London, the Leo Castelli in New York, Rome's National Gallery of Modern Art and others. Such organisations as the CAPC in Bordeaux (1985), the Musée d'Art Contemporain in Nimes (1991), the IVAM in Valencia (1995) the Jeu de Paume and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (1996) the Centro Cultural Recoleto in Buenos Aires (1997) the MACBA in Barcelona, Palermo City Council in the Church of Santa Eulalia dei Calatani, and the Reina Sofia Art Museum of Madrid (1999) have all organised anthologies of his work.

An artist of many talents, Barceló's creative drive has led him to produce work that ranges from enormous canvasses, backdrops for opera, murals and engravings to terracotta and ceramic sculptures, which make up a considerable part of his most recent production. He has also created a new benchmark for artistic illustration in the latest edition of the Divine Comedy. At present, he is still working on a terra-cotta covering of Saint Peter's Chapel in Palma de Majorca Cathedral.