Statement
My pictorial practice, centered on figuration, asserts itself as an act of resistance against the closure of the world into networks of functions, discourses, and dispositifs.
I paint visible forms that neither refer nor illustrate, but rather appear as irreducible presences. Each painting is an instantiation: a world that is not deduced, that does not comment, but that emerges.
In figurative painting, the incarnate regains a place—not as a copy, nor as a reaction, but as an open possibility. The figure does not represent; it renders possible. Against semiotic and technical closure, painting is the affirmation of the freedom to see and to create.
There is no program: there is an offering. My work takes place where the visible can still astonish, where the appearance of a form embodies a freedom that resists instrumentalization.
To paint today is to sustain the promise of a world that is always still to come.
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Bio
Rafel Bestard (stage name Rafael Bestard Mas, Palma de Mallorca, 1967) is an artist and philosopher. Trained in Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona and with postgraduate studies in drawing at the Polytechnic University of Barcelona, his artistic career has developed in parallel to a philosophical research focused on aesthetics, and more specifically in the phenomenology of painting. After completing a master’s degree in philosophy at the Universitat de les Illes Balears in 2024, he is currently preparing his doctoral thesis on pictorial practice from a phenomenological perspective.
His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in Berlin, Amsterdam, Aalborg, Lübeck, Asheville, Barcelona or Palma, and he has participated in international fairs such as Art Miami, VOLTA Basel or PAN Amsterdam. He has also been selected for various artistic residencies, including FaberLlull (Olot) and RiddergadeAIR (Denmark), and has co-organized several editions of the Resi(st)dencias programme in Mallorca. His career has been recognised with numerous awards, such as the City of Albacete Prize (2012) or the Ciutat de Manacor Prize (2007). His work is situated at the crossroads between the rigour of the pictorial profession and a philosophical questioning about the appearance of the image.
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CV
Palma de Mallorca, 1967.
Artist and philosopher.
Artistic training::
-. Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona, 1991.
-. Postgraduate degree in drawing and its applications, Polytechnic University of Barcelona, 1991.
-. Various courses and seminars on the theory and history of contemporary art at the Pilar i Joan Miró Foundation, Juan March Foundation and Casal Solleric (1995-1998).
-. Several painting workshops with Antonio Lopez at the Francisco de Goya Chair (Ávila), Casa Ibañez Museum (Olula del Río) and the City of Albacete Chair (2011-2017).
Philosophical training:
-. Master in Philosophy from the Universitat de les Illes Balears (2024). His research interests focus on aesthetics and, in particular, the phenomenology of painting.
-. He is currently preparing his doctorate in philosophy, with a thesis that will deal with the phenomenology of pictorial praxis.
Artistic residencies:
-. RiddergadeAIR, Viborg Kunsthal, Denmark. July-August 2018.
-. Resi(st)dencias IV, Los Cárceles – Albacete, Spain. May-June 2022.
-. Resi(st)dencias V, Sa Casa Blanca, Mallorca, Spain. April 2023 (Co-Organizer).
-. Resi(st)dencias VI, Sa Casa Blanca, Mallorca, Spain. June 2024 (Co-Organizer).
-. FaberLlull, Olot. June 2024.
-. Resi(st)dencias VII, Sa Casa Blanca, Mallorca, Spain. April-May 2025 (Co-organizer).
Selection of individual exhibitions:
-. La inquietud latente, curated by Pau Pedragosa, Opposite Art Project, Barcelona, 2025.
-. El viu i l’extrany, curated by Tomeu Simonet, Porreres Museum, 2024-2025.
-. A way to realism, Gallery Blue Spiral 1, Asheville (EEUU), 2024.
-. People at Sunset have Shadows one Mile long, Kirk Gallery. Aalborg, 2023.
-. Klerus, Galerie Heissingsart, Lübeck, 2022.
-. Rafel Bestard, Galerie Heissingsart, Berlin, 2022.
-. Our Hours, Galería Contrast. Barcelona, 2021.
-. Rafel Bestard, Galerie Mokum, Amsterdam, 2020.
-. Rafel Bestard, Galerie Heissingsart, Berlin, 2019.
-. Man or Rabbit, Galeria Contrast. Barcelona, 2019.
-. Infamous angel, Can Gelabert. Binissalem, 2018.
-. We the souls, Kirk Gallery. Aalborg, 2018.
-. Rafel Bestard, Galerie Mokum, Amsterdam, 2016.
-. To touch a sore spot, Galeria Contrast, Barcelona, 2015.
-. Rafel Bestard, Malerei, Galerie Heissingsart, Lübeck, 2014.
-. Paisatge interior, Galería Contrast. Barcelona, 2013.
-. Virtudes inconfesables, Galería Contrast. Barcelona, 2009.
-. Inadaptacions, Casal Solleric. Palma de Mallorca, 2009.
-. Rafel Bestard, Works 1998-2006, Torre de Ses Puntes Museum, Manacor, Mallorca, 2006.
-. Pintures 02, Galería Horrach Moyá. Palma de Mallorca, 2002.
Selection of collective exhibitions:
-. Alart, curated by Tomeu Simonet, Casal Son Tugores, Alaró, 2025.
-. R-VI, Galeria 6A, Palma, Mallorca, 2024.
-. Salon de Lübeck, Galerie Heissingsart, Lübeck, 2024.
-. Hi havia una vegada… 2, curated by Tomeu Simonet. Porreres Museum, Mallorca, 2023.
-. At the edge, Kirk Gallery, Aalborg, 2022.
-. At the edge of realism, Kirk Gallery, Aalborg, 2020.
-. Peripècies, S’Escorxador, Marratxí, 2016.
-. The 3rd , 4th & 6th Beijing International Art Biennal. National Museum of Art of China,, Beijing, 2008, 2010, 2015.
-. Masters and Students, Palacio Los Serrano, Fundación Bankia. Ávila, 2014.
-. Narracions, Galeria Contrast. Barcelona, 2011.
-. Watermarks, NDSM-WERF, curated by Mercedes Estarellas. Amsterdam, 2009.
-. Art emergent a les Illes Balears III, Itinerant exhibition, curated by Joan Carles Gomis, 2004 & 2007, Spain.
Selection of art fairs in which he participated:
-. Estampa Madrid, Art Miami, Art Karlsruhe, VOLTA Basel, Context Art Miami, Scope Basel, PAN Amsterdam, KunstRAI Amsterdam, CI Contemporary Istambul, SWAB Barcelona, TIAF Toronto, Scope New York, Scope Miami.
Awards:
-. Special mention of the jury X Premi Salou de Recerca Pictòrica, Salou, 2016.
-. 1rst Prize X Bienal de Artes Plásticas Ciudad de Albacete. Albacete, 2012.
-. Acquisition award, VIII Biennial of Plastic Arts City of Albacete. Albacete, 2008.
-. Special jury mention and acquisition, Premis Ciutat de Palma d’Arts Plàstiques, Palma de Mallorca, 2008.
-. 1r Prize, Premi Ciutat de Manacor d’Arts Plàstiques, 2007 Manacor.
-. 1r Prize, Dijous Painting Contest 2001, Inca.
-. 1r Prize, XL Award to young painture, Sala Parés-Fundació Banc de Sabadell, Barcelona, 1998.
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