Project: “Avocado”
In September 2024, María Bisbal takes part in the art microresidencies organized by artist Paula Fraile at her studio in Leipzig.
During her stay, she immerses herself in the city’s artistic environment and explores new aesthetic and technical approaches, such as risography.
Her work—a series of canvases and prints that return with her to Madrid—marks the beginning of a project based on the symbolic and emotional relationship that develops between vegetation and people in intimate settings.
Testimonial by Paula Fraile:
Maria arrived with a deep desire to travel to another country, to be nourished by new spaces and a different culture. She was looking to expand her artistic practice through new ways of working with color, experimenting with unfamiliar techniques, and allowing those experiences to transform her painting.
During her time in the studio, Maria explored tools and materials that had not previously been part of her process. She discovered neon pigments, experimented with the airbrush, used projection as a tool, and created a risograph print edition.
Beyond technical resources, it was the combination of the welcoming new environment and the artistic diversity that allowed for a more profound change.
Her work began to incorporate intimate stories through small objects, plants, or scenes, which she sought to integrate into her pictorial portrait work.
Witnessing how Maria integrated these new visual languages into her work was a clear example of how, when a space offers room for listening, freedom, and play, painting can find new ways of being and speaking.
Image “Avocado”
Caption: Avocado II, Mixed media on canvas, 118 x 136 cm