The sample has 116 images, most of them unpublished, taken over three decades, from 1961 to 1991, mainly in Europe and the United States.

Curated by Ignasi Duarte, this exhibition and the accompanying book arise from the discovery of a huge photographic archive of the artist, with more than 75.000 negatives.

This exhibition, included in the Official Section of PHotoESPAÑA 2023, can be visited in the Goya room of the Círculo de Bellas Artes until September 17.

The Goya room of the Círculo de Bellas Artes will host the exhibition from May 29 to September 17 Cowboy's dreams, an exhibition that explores the photographic facet of the artist Antoni Miralda.

This exhibition was born from the chance encounter of a complete photographic archive, with more than 75.000 negatives, discovered by Ignasi Duarte.

Cowboy's dreams It has 116 photographs taken by the artist in Europe and the United States between 1961 and 1991.

Black and white photographs that allow the viewer to discover Miralda's position on photography and its uses.

As the curator of the exhibition points out, the discovery of these images allows us to “understand the use that Miralda makes of the image when it falls within the sphere of the strictly private. Miralda photography to see. Protected behind the camera, she builds reality, invents it."

Miralda uses photography as a tool with which to dissect society, in images that collect religious or military manifestations with a deep critical sense and humor.  

In the words of the curator: "his photographic archive makes up a wide repertoire of the alien thanks to which we witness how he delves into the cultural particularities that define the different human groups he portrays."

Along with the hundred images from Spain and the United States, the exhibition includes sixty-one vintage photographs from the series of Soldats Soldes, images that document the sculptures and public interventions that the artist carried out with plastic soldiers. In addition, a selection of drawings by the famous Castillejos notebook (1965) and three works on paper planned for the exhibition at the Zunini gallery in Paris (1967), one of which —a soldier-themed gouache— never went on display. The Castillejos Notebook is a drawn diary of daily life in the camp where Miralda did his military service. It is a fundamental record for understanding the origin of the themes —or obsessions— that will define her work for years to come.

The inclusion of these historical works is crucial to contextualize Miralda's activity in the years in which he took, casually and without giving it much importance, many of the snapshots that are now coming to light.