Mine désaffectée II (2013) Drawing by Luis Margallo

Born in 1953 in a small Castilian village, Luis Margallo is the author of a protean and demanding body of work. Already as a teenager, he taught himself various painting and drawing techniques, with a marked preference for oil on canvas, influenced in particular by the Flemish and Italian masters of the 17th century.

Some of his paintings have won awards, notably from the Société des Amis des Arts de Pau, which has always appreciated and emphasized the expertise and technical skills of this jack-of-all-trades. In fact, a glance is enough to realise that Luis Margallo varies themes and inspirations to give his work the strength of a fundamentally human whole.

From smouldering old locomotives to English cemeteries, from weary pilgrims to abandoned mines, it's man's invisible hand, this mixture of dismay and hope, this need to prove that everything passes without being in vain that irrigates each of his canvases.

For almost ten years, he has been criss-crossing the roads to Compostela, trying to capture its epiphanies. It is this experience of itinerancy and travel that has inspired a series of religious buildings drawn in Indian ink.

"Man is a very small thing, he says. And passing. And dies. Even before creating language, he created the gesture that draws and remains. No doubt he was already unconsciously dreaming of becoming immortal. And, without knowing it, he succeeded. The anonymous of Lascaux and Chauvet. In a way, I'm modestly trying to perpetuate this unspoken tradition. Hence the omnipresence of carved rock and the vital importance I attach to drawing. In short, I'm content to draw and admire the stone of men."

• Nationality: SPAIN
• Date of birth : 1953
• Artistic domains:
• Groups: Contemporary Spanish Artists