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It is with great sadness that we announce the death of friend and famed Barcelona artist, Josep Cisquella (1955 – 2010). Part of the Caldwell Snyder Gallery for over 10 years, Cisquella’s signature style of realism, and the way he captured the beauty of everyday phenomena, will be greatly missed.

Masterworks of realism and brilliant studies of light, time and illusion, Cisquella’s art truly broke new ground. Although during his lifetime Cisquella never stopped short in giving credit to those great art movements and artists before him who provided inspiration (everything from ancient Hellenic art to seventeenth-century trompe l’ oeil to the Pop art movement) he built upon these traditions and found new and fresh ways to marvel at a painting’s capacity to create realities.

Through his use of precise color, astounding detail and technical mastery Josep Cisquella’s paintings explode with artistic virtuosity. His canvases are quiet mediations on permanence and impermanence; they are both subtle and suggestive, while remaining intellectually complex.

Cisquella’s impeccably observed paintings speak to the beauty of details; preserving moments that, in real life, are all too ephemeral. Exerting exquisite control over every image, Cisquella created intricate layers of meaning that lie just beneath calm, meditative surfaces. In viewing his work, we are reminded of our own place in the universe’s temporal fabric. For that reason, and for the care he took in rendering these quiet scenes, Josep Cisquella’s work amounts to a wholehearted celebration of painting itself.

Internationally renowned, Cisquella’s genius has been celebrated and showcased in countless exhibitions, many times at Caldwell Snyder, as well as Sotheby’s in Amsterdam, Fisher Fine Art in London, Galeria Àmbit in Barcelona, Spain, the Inge Beacker Gallery in Cologne, Germany and at Art dans La Ville in Saint Étienne, France.

Josep Cisquella once said, “I like watching and knowing the little and daily realities that surround us, aiming to search for an artistic vision among the least, the most insignificant. It is said that any topic, watched with enough attention is always interesting. It is said that art does not look for beauty but, in any case, it finds beauty as a reward.”

We are grateful for the opportunity we have had to bask in the light and shadow of one of the world’s great artistic luminaries. He was a talented, genuine and kind-hearted man who will truly be missed.

By Laila Brenner

Born: 1955, Barcelona Spain

Solo Exhibitions:
2010 Campton Gallery, New York, NY.
2009 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA.
2008 Campton Gallery, New York, NY.
2006 Towards Reality, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco CA.
2005 Recent Paintings, Campton Gallery, New York, NY.
2004 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
Roadside Advertisements, Trajan Gallery, Carmel, CA.
2002 Soliel Intense, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2001 Exhibition New European Artists, Sothebys Gallery, Amsterdam, Holland.
2000 Outside-In, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
1999 Shadows, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, New York, NY.
1998 Ombres, Galeria Àmbit, Barcelona, Spain.
Cadaqués, Galeria Carlos Lozano, Spain.
1997 Pintures a Nivell del Mar, El Far, Barcelona, Spain.
1996 LÍnia de Flotacioó, Galeria Àmbit, Barcelona, Spain.
1995 Abstracció MatemÀtica, Sala Transcurs UPC, Barcelona, Spain.
Naus Mercants, Museu d’Art Modern de Tarragona, Spain, Spain.
1994 Correlacions Galeria Àmbit, Barcelona, Spain.
1992 Magidson Gallery, Aspen, CO.
Òxids, Galeria Ramon Sardá, Barcelona, Spain.
1991 Galeria Arcs & Cracs, Barcelona, Spain.
New York at Groundlevel, Magidson Gallery, New York, NY.
1990 Cota Cero, Galeria Ynguanzo, Madrid, Spain.
1989 Asfalt, Galeria Alfonso, Alcolea Barcelona, Spain.

Group Exhibitions:
1999-2010 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
1999 Campo & Campo Gallery, Amberes, Belgium,
Realisme a Catalunya, Centre d’Art, Santa Mònica Barcelona, Spain.
1997 Galeria 3 punts, Barcelona
Realisme d’Avantguarda, Galeria Llucià Homs, Barcelona, Spain.
1996 Art Frankfurt, Germany.
Galeria Àmbit, Barcelona, Spain.
1995 Art dans La Ville, Saint Étienne, France.
Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Spain.
Retrat de Barcelona, Spain.
Galeria Alter Ego, Barcelona, Spain.
1990 Art Cologne, Germany, Inge Beacker Gallery, Cologne, Germany.
Fisher Fine Art, London, UK.
Ynguanzo, Madrid, Spain.
1989 Vinçon, Barcelona, Spain.

Selected Art Fairs:
2001 Art Miami, FL.
2003 Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
2004 Merrill Lynch Arte-Americas, Miami, FL.

Selected International Art Expositions:
2005 San Francisco International Art Expo, San Francisco, CA.
2002-03 Art Chicago, Chicago Illinois.
2002-04 San Francisco International Art Expo, San Francisco California.

Education:
Drawing & Painting studies
Graduated in Industrial Engineering