Rufino de Mingo — Linked figures and rose — Oil on canvas, large format

On a reddish, eroded, and deliberately irregular surface, several human forms appear, traced in a continuous black line. The bodies do not occupy a conventional space: they seem to float, entwine, and shift between a succession of large vertical forms that traverse the composition.

Rufino de Mingo constructs the work based on the contrast between two languages. On one hand, there is the matter: layers of color, scrapings, overlays, and traces that turn the background into an almost archaeological surface. On the other, the drawing: human figures and a large rose reduced to dark, immediate, and deliberately schematic profiles.

The upper scene concentrates the narrative tension. Two figures appear linked by arms and bodies that extend horizontally, in a relationship that can be read as an encounter, a dance, a game, or a confrontation. De Mingo avoids defining it completely and lets that ambiguity activate the composition.

Below them appears an isolated rose, constructed using the same black stroke. Its presence introduces an organic and recognizable motif against the abstraction of the background, while the large vertical forms—visually close to stelae, leaves, or stone structures—organize the space and provide depth.

The palette is dominated by earthy reds, salmons, ochres, and muted greens. Instead of covering the canvas uniformly, the artist works the paint as an accumulative surface: remains, transparencies, and small chromatic fractures appear, giving the work a marked tactile richness.

Rufino de Mingo — Between Matter and Figure

Rufino de Mingo (Escariche, Guadalajara, 1953) is a painter, printmaker, sculptor, and muralist. His career has developed within an experimental conception of artistic practice, alternating between painting, graphic work, mural intervention, and collective projects.

During the eighties, he promoted the Muralistas de Escariche project in his hometown, which brought together artists of different backgrounds to intervene on the municipality's facades. He was also linked to the Grupo Abanico and the Movimiento Caos, within an artistic context interested in expanding creation beyond the conventional painting.

His work has circulated internationally and is represented in institutional collections; the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía holds several pieces related to his production.

In his painting, a coexistence between abstract, material-heavy backgrounds and figurative elements reduced to signs frequently appears. The human body then ceases to function as an academic representation to become almost an ideogram: a silhouette, a posture, or a gesture is enough to suggest a narrative.

This work constitutes an especially clear example of that approach.

Between the Wall and the Drawing

The painting functions almost as if two different works had been superimposed.

First, there is the background, built through color, wear, and texture. It could exist on its own as an abstract composition.

Then, the figures and the rose appear, traced directly onto that surface using a bold black line. That intervention completely transforms the painting: where there was previously matter, characters, relationships, and symbols begin to emerge.

It is precisely that tension—between the abstract and the recognizable, between surface and story—that gives the piece its personality.

Technical Sheet

Author: Rufino de Mingo (Escariche, Guadalajara, 1953)
Title: Figuras enlazadas y rosa (Linked Figures and Rose)
Technique: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 61 × 50 cm
Signature: Signed "R. de Mingo" in the lower right corner
Subject: Figurative composition / human figures / rose
Style: Contemporary figuration with material treatment and abstract elements
Period: Second half of the 20th century
Support: Canvas on stretcher
Presentation: Unframed
Condition: Good general condition, with signs consistent with its age and the material treatment of the surface itself. The photographs are part of the condition description.

The Workshop Note — When a Line Transforms Matter

First, we see the surface: a reddish, rough expanse, full of small traces, scratches, and layers of paint.

Then the figures appear.

De Mingo needs only a black line to transform that abstract background into a scene. The bodies meet, entwine, and seem to suspend themselves in front of the vertical forms; below, a rose introduces an unexpectedly recognizable element.

We are especially interested in that change of register. The painting can be contemplated at the same time as a material abstraction and as a small, open-ended narrative, without either of the two readings fully imposing itself over the other.