Vítor Mejuto. Breu història manual

Vítor Mejuto’s “Breu història manual” project, presented as part of Biennal B, establishes a dialogue between his pictorial practice and a selection of objects and tools from the Molí d’en Fraret collection, housed in the ethnographic section of the Museu d’Història de Manacor. These objects provide insight into the domestic tasks and agricultural work carried out in pre-tourism Mallorca during the first half of the 20th century, before the island’s economic model was transformed by the tourism boom of the 1960s.

Mejuto’s artistic practice is characterised by geometric and symbolic abstraction. Throughout his career, he has sought to solve a simple equation: combining ingenuity of form with precision of colour. Initially, his forms were purely abstract, consisting of meticulous developments of series of shapes. In his recent work, however, he incorporates external stimuli, introducing elements of figuration in an attempt to capture their essence after eliminating anything superfluous. His pictorial work focuses on elements of culture, tradition, architecture and craftsmanship. For this exhibition, Mejuto has observed and painted the everyday objects on display at the Molí d’en Fraret.

Just as Mejuto breaks down objects to capture their essence in his paintings, if we break down the word manual, we find the Spanish word mano (hand). Manual refers to anything done using one’s hands. The objects on display at the Molí d’en Fraret have been handled manually. They exist because people used them as small prostheses or artificial extensions needed to perform a specific task. They bear the marks of wear and tear from fingers, taking us from the manual treatment of objects to the traces left on them by the people who used them, and therefore the life stories they accumulate and preserve. As Mejuto himself says, “Painting these objects is like painting these people and the lives they lived.” The term manual can also refer to a book that provides essential information on a specific topic and allows for quick and easy reference. Thus, this exhibition also serves as a visual compendium and manual, collecting and highlighting the memory and tradition of long-lost practices through the objects used, which have now become symbols in Vítor Mejuto’s paintings.

During the chronologically organised tour of the ethnographic pieces on display at Molí d’en Fraret, small-format paintings by Vítor Mejuto are interspersed throughout. Rather than detracting from the objects, these paintings give them value and new meanings. This creates a dialogue between tradition and art, connecting the memory of our ancestors with future generations.

 

Vítor Mejuto (Barcelona, 1969) is a painter and photographer currently working as art director director at La Voz de Galicia. Having studied in the Fine Arts Department at the University of Salamanca in the late 1980s, his artistic practice is essentially pictorial. His most notable exhibition projects include “Pintor en la Corte” (Formatocomodo Gallery, Madrid, 2018), “O livro das Palmeiras” (Fernando Santos Gallery, Porto, 2018), “Torreón de tramoya” (Centro Párraga, Murcia, 2020), “Artanenc” (Igallery, Palma, Mallorca, 2022), “Un viaje extraordinario” (Centrocentro, Madrid, 2023) and “Vida y Milagros” (Espacio Valverde, Madrid, 2024).

Also worth mentioning is his recent residency at the Projeto Fidalga Residência in São Paulo, resulting in the “Copo Americano” exhibition, and his Quadern d’Artà project, a public space intervention in Artà, Mallorca.