Pepe Hidalgo
Pepe Hidalgo was born in Spain and now resides in Vancouver. He predominantly paints with acrylic and sketches. Hidalgo studied fine arts in Utrecht, Netherlands.
Hidalgo has a distinct element present in his paintings. There is a string or cord that can be seen in the majority of his work. It acts as the umbilical cord that unites him to the universe and allows him to time travel back and forth as it supports his weight and pulls him back into reality. It also takes on the role of identity maker and can almost be considered to replace his signature.
Pepe Hidalgo’s style is figurative and abstract narrative. His figurative work is not related to realism, it is created from his imagination. Hidalgo’s paintings achieve strength through the glazes or velatures he applies. He will apply two or three to a painting, they help create a sense of space. There is a distinct element present in his paintings, a string or cord that acts as the umbilical cord that unites him to the universe, and allows him to time travel back and forth as it supports his weight and pulls him back into reality. Hidalgo predominantly paints with acrylic and sketches. His artistic process started as a child during frequent visits to the Museo del Prado in Madrid. His work is influenced by Velazquez, Zurbaran, El Bosco, and the Impressionists. Art has allowed him to “free himself” and express himself without prejudice, and to dare to do what he feels without expectations. Many people ask him where he gets his ideas for his paintings. When you know him you realize he mixes his knowledge of astrology, mythology, history, life, and experiences. It is all manifested and expressed in his paintings.
Pepe Hidalgo Artist Statement
Standing in front of each painting one encounters a moment in time created within the world depicted on the canvas. Each of the paintings is representational, depicts, and thus constructs, a world with a unique space-time that is definitely separate from the one which the viewer primarily inhabits. What each of the depicted moments share is that they present moments of leisure or rest, moments when time slows or even stops, sometimes briefly, at others permanently. Moments in one place and then into another place. These paintings allow one to travel, to cross spaces, borders, time, dimensions, and then return.
The pieces often have an intimate personal ring to them, but they are also closely connected to mythological and mysterious distant natures, personal elements that show both the process side and the object side of the art-making experience. The scenarios in each work have their own story, their own relation to theory and history within art, within the art world and outside of it as well. This conjuring of a range of ‘pasts’ become the unifying element in the series. Objects with historical associations makeup metaphors for the great differences and dissimilar points of departure that human beings are allotted. My art invokes the ever-ineffable nature of time and the equally mysterious way that the past, in art and in the rest of life, can push its way forward into the present moment.
Pepe Hidalgo – CV
Lives and works in Delta, B.C.
EXHIBITIONS
2024-Richmond Art Walk, Richmond, CANADA “Spring Group Exhibition”
2024-Kay Meek Art Centre, West Vancouver, CANADA “The Magic of Still Life” 2023-Omar Alonso Gallery, Puerto Vallarta, MEXICO “El perro de Goya”
2023-Manitoba Arts Network, Manitoba, CANADA “Portraits with Movement and The Magic of Still Life”
2022-Art Couture Gallery, White Rock, BC, CANADA “Seduced By the Muses” 2022-True Colour Gallery, North Vancouver, BC, CANADA “Seduced By the Muses” 2022-Lipont Gallery, Richmond, BC, CANADA “Cycle of Life”
2022-Lipont Gallery, Richmond, BC, CANADA “Pepe Hidalgo”
2021-Art Gallery of St. Albert, St. Albert, AB, CANADA
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6cjg4o6x255cw68/tourd.mp4?dl=0
2020-Lipont Gallery, Richmond, BC, CANADA https://bit.ly/2IC8T3n “Origin of Souls” 2020-Cultural Centre of Cape Cod, selected for “While We Were Away” online exhibition, South Yarmouth, Massachusetts, USA
2020-Art at the Cave, Washington, USA
2020-Verum Ultimum Art Gallery, Oregon, USA
2019-Shadbolt Centre, British Columbia, CANADA
2019-Art at the Cave, Washington, USA
2019-LIpont Gallery, British Columbia, CANADA
2019-Michael Wright Art Gallery, British Columbia, CANADA
2019 -Arts Council of Surrey, Newton Cultural Centre, British Columbia, CANADA 2018 -Foyer Gallery, Squamish, British Columbia, CANADA
2017 -Place de Arts Coquitlam, British Columbia, CANADA
2017 -Abbotsford Community Arts council, British Columbia, CANADA
2017 -West Vancouver Community Arts council, Silk Purse Gallery, British Columbia, CANADA 2016 -The Deer Lake Gallery, The Arts Council of Burnaby, British Columbia, CANADA 2015-2017 Participating artist for International Day of the Dead at Granville Island, Vancouver,
British Columbia, CANADA, with the recognition of the Mexican Consulate 2015 -The Gallery, The Arts Council of New Westminster, British Columbia, CANADA 2014 -Smudges Art Shoppe – The Art House on Mill St., Chilliwack, British Columbia, CANADA 2000-2013 Commissioned work for art collectors, creating a number of Series 2009 -Foundation of the Caixa, Santa Cristina D’Aro, Girona, SPAIN
2000 -Exposicion Sala. Huis 13 Tiel, NETHERLANDS
2000 – 1982 Individual Exhibitions in Spain, Netherlands, Germany, and BELGIUM
AWARDS
2019-Second Place, 2019 POTE: Painting on the Edge, FCA, Title of Painting: Faust Opera 2019 -Artistic Achievement Award, Oil and Water Juried Exhibition, Delta, BC Title of Painting: My Neighbour Matilda
2018 -Second Place, Three Seasons Art Competition, Vinoscenti Vineyards- Clinton Lee 2018 -Associate Signature Member Status at the Federation of Canadian Artists (AFCA) 2017 -First Place in Federation of Canadian Artists, Theme: Canvas Unbound Title of Painting: The Menina
2015 -Second Place in Federation of Canadian Artists, Theme: Culture
Title of Painting: Kidnapping Europe
2008 -Selection in First Contest de Pintura Libre Fundación Caja Rural Jaén, Title of Painting: Appearance on Monte Perdido
2001 -Selection and Mention of Honor de ZARTE,
Title of painting: De J.R. Sender a Miro Pasando por Picasso
1992 -Francisco de Goya Prize, Selection and Exhibition in Conde Duque Sala. Madrid, SPAIN, Title of painting: Equilibrium in Europe
1985 -Second Place “Painting Competition Abroad: Organized by the Ministry of Work” Utrecht-Madrid, NETHERLANDS-SPAIN
GALLERY REPRESENTATION
Lipont Gallery, Richmond, BC, Canada
Grant Berg Gallery, Grand Prairie, AB, Canada
Art Couture Gallery, White Rock, BC, Canada
Bruno Massa, Paris, France
PUBLICATIONS
2023-Al-Tiba9 Contemporrary Magazine
https://www.altiba9.com/artist-interviews/pepe-hidalgo-painting-surrealism 2022- Video on collaborative work with Guo Yan and Pepe HIdalgo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df2Zv9MdIBM&t=4s
2021-Art Gallery of St. Albert, St. Albert, AB, CANADA
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6cjg4o6x255cw68/tourd.mp4?dl=0
2020-Art Habens Art Review, Special Edition March 29, 2020
https://issuu.com/arthabens/docs/biennial.ed.xv/22
2019 -Art Avenue – July/August 2019 – 2nd Place, POTE, Faust Opera
2017 -Art Avenue – March/April 2017 – On the Cover – 1st Place, Canvas Unbound, The Menina 2011 -Ciutadans – 2011.núm 8 – Revista de Ciències Socials D’Andorra – Paintings included in the article: Reality and Imagination by Francesca Randazzo
2016 -Ciutadans – 2016.num 13 – Revista de Ciencias Sociales D’Andorra – Paintings included in the article: Avalanche Danger Awareness with Educational Board Game by Luis G. Lopez 2003 -Painting used for a book cover – Los Ninos Indigos by Jose Manuel Piedrafita Moreno
