Rafa Macarrón is a self-taught artist whose works meld playful drawing and figuration with striking, chromatic abstraction. Macarrón’s work plays with bodies, particularly ones with manifold fingers, thin-lined limbs, and hyper-distorted facial features. Trained as a physiotherapist, he works with a comprehensive understanding of anatomy, only to rebuke its precision.
“To create my elongated figures requires knowledge and respect for anatomy. I know the structure of the body perfectly. Then, I begin to try out distortions and deformations, which I think works very well. I am able to create my own characters, each with their own soul and personality.”
His canvases comprise a field of playfulness, a space for mutation. Macarrón’s corruptions of scientific anatomy are at once spirited and macabre, similar to the figures in Picasso’s Guernica. His dreamlike aesthetic brings a popular-cultural sensibility–one informed by various media such as comics and cartoons–to a style of abstract figuration exemplified by painters such as Paul Klee, Arshile Gorky, and Jean Dubuffet. These characters exist in two types of landscapes: in some works, Macarrón emphasizes a sense of isolation, positioning the figures in textured color fields; and in other works, he makes them bustle in overcrowded worlds filled with absurdist infrastructures.
“My characters don’t go towards the caricature. I flee away from all kinds of cartoonish ornamentation. They are born from a fantastic, surreal, and expressionist figuration. I consider them hybrid characters that are closely related to my admiration for Dubuffet, Bonifacio, and Alfonso Fraile. My characters live in a transcended daily life, clean days, sunsets, and fresh air.”
Practical Information
Rafa Macarron
Spanish (Born 1981)
Category: Ultra-Contemporary
Public Collections
Rafa Macarron’s works are displayed at such institutions as the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, New York; Fundación BMW, Spain; Caja Campo, Valladolid, Spain; and Colección Mercadona, Spain; among others.
Museum Exhibitions
Alongside solo exhibitions with Allouche Gallery in New York and Nino Mier Gallery in Los Angeles, Macarrón held his first institutional solo show at the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga in 2021 with scenes of bathers and beaches providing the central thematic focus. Earlier this year the artist mounted his debut solo exhibition in Asia, held at the CVG Foudation in Beijing.
Gallery Representation
NINO MIER GALLERY
Rafa Macarrón – Artists – Nino Mier Gallery
PART I: SUMMARY
Auction Market Overview
2025 AUCTION STATISTICS
Turnover: USD 256,765
-43.1% vs. 2024
# Lots sold: 7
Sell-Through Rate: 88%
Highest Price paid at Auction:
USD 566,250
Rafa Macarron made its auction debut at Ravenel in Taiwan on 19 July 2020 where one of his paintings sold for around USD 50,000. 2 paintings sold in 2021, including one at Sotheby’s Hong-Kong for over USD 550,000 on 9 October 2021.
Auction Summary
2025 Auction Highlights
7 lots sold at auction in 2025 for a total turnover of USD 256,765. With 1 lot failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 88%. The highest price of USD 53,340 for 2025 has been achieved twice, at Christie’s online, on 16 December 2025, for Estados del Alma, a painting dated 2015, and at Phillips in New-York, on 2 July 2025, by En Expansion, a painting dated 2012.
2025 Top 3 Lots
2024 Auction Highlights
9 lots sold at auction in 2024 for a total turnover of USD 451,530. With 2 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 82%. The highest price has been achieved at Phillips in New-York, on 12 December 2024, when Libre, a painting dated 2014, sold for USD 88,900.
2024 Top 3 Lots
2023 Auction Highlights
15 lots sold at auction in 2023 for a total turnover of USD 2,119,046. The highest price was achieved at Sotheby’s in Hong-Kong on 5 April 2023, when CAC I (2021) sold for HKD 4,445,000 (USD 566,234).
2023 Top 5 Lots
6 lots sold above USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 1,565,670, representing 73.9% of the total turnover for 2023.
2022 Auction Highlights
29 lots sold at auction in 2022 for a total turnover of USD 5,000,087. With only 2 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is a solid 94%. The highest price was reached by Matilda (2018) that sold at Sotheby’s in Hong-Kong on 7 April 2022 for HKD 4,032,000 (USD 513,840).
2022 Top 5 Lots
21 lots sold above USD 100,000 for a cumulative turnover of USD 4,438,941, representing 88.8% of the total turnover for 2022.
Top Lots
#1. CAC I, 2021
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 5 April 2023
Estimated: HKD 3,500,000 – 5,500,000
HKD 4,445,000 / USD 566,250
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
CAC I, 2021
Mixed media on canvas, in 3 parts
Each: 366×226 cm (144 1/8 x 89 inches)
Overall: 366×678 cm (144 1/8 x 266 7/8 inches)
Signed, titled and dated 2021 on the reverse of the third panel
#2. Rutina Fluor (diptych), 2019
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 9 October 2021
Estimated: HKD 500,000 – 700,000
HKD 4,284,000 / USD 550,310
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
Rutina Fluor (diptych), 2019
Mixed media on canvas
Each: 226.2 x145.9 cm (89 x 57 1/2 inches)
Overall: 226.2 x294 cm (89 x 115 3/4 inches)
Initialed and dated 19
#3. Matilda, 2018
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 27 April 2022
Estimated: HKD 1,500,000 – 2,500,000
HKD 4,032,000 / USD 513,840
Rafa Macarrón 拉法・馬卡龍 | Matilda 瑪蒂爾達 | Contemporary Evening Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)
RAFA MACARRON (B. 1981)
Matilda, 2018
Mixed media on canvas
226×184 cm (89 x 72 ½ inches)
Initialed, titled and dated 18
#4. Machaquito, 2011
Phillips London: 30 June 2022
Estimated: GBP 100,000 – 150,000
GBP 327,600 / USD 398,346
Rafa Macarrón – 20th Century & Contempo… Lot 26 June 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Machaquito, 2011
Mixed media on canvas, in 3 parts
Each: 196.5 x 98.5 cm (77 3/8 x 38 3/4 inches)
Overall: 196.5 x 295.5 cm (77 3/8 x 116 3/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘Machaquito RM 11.’ lower right
#5. La Perrera, 2018
Phillips New-York: 18 May 2022
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 378,000
Rafa Macarrón – 20th Century & Contempor… Lot 32 May 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
La Perrera, 2018
Mixed media on canvas
226.1 x 140.3 cm (89 x 55 1/4 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated “Rm 18” lower right
PART II: AUCTION RESULTS
2025 Auction Results
7 lots sold at auction in 2025 for a total turnover of USD 256,765. With 1 lot failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 88%. The highest price of USD 53,340 for 2025 has been achieved twice, at Christie’s online, on 16 December 2025, for Estados del Alma, a painting dated 2015, and at Phillips in New-York, on 2 July 2025, by En Expansion, a painting dated 2012.
2025 Top 3 Lots
#1. Estados del Alma, 2015
Christie’s online: 16 December 2025
Estimated: USD 25,000 – 35,000
USD 53,340
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981), Estados del Alma | Christie’s
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981)
Estados del Alma, 2015
Spray paint, acrylic, ink and found paper collage on aluminum
182.2 x 139.7 cm (71 3/4 x 55 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘ESTADOS DEL ALMA RM 15’ (lower right)
#2. EN EXPANSIÓN, 2012
Phillips New-York: 2 July 2025
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 53,340
Rafa Macarrón Modern & Contemporary Art: Online Auction, New York
USD 50,000
#3. Untitled, 2012
Bonhams New-York: 15 May 2025
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 40,000
USD 40,960
Bonhams : RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981) Untitled
Mixed media on canvas
196.9 x 196.9 x 34.9 cm (77 1/2 x 77 1/2 x 13 3/4 inches)
Signed and dated ‘Rafe Macarrón 2012’ (lower right)
#4. Untitled, 2008
Estimated: HKD 240,000 – 350,000
HKD 309,600 / USD 39,750
Mixed media on canvas, triptych
Each work: 100×81 cm (39 3/8 x 31 7/8 inches)
Each signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘RM 08’ lower right
#5. Mama Jirafa, 2017
USD 37,500
Mama Jirafa, 2017
Mixed media on aluminum
280.2 x 141.9 cm (110 3/8 x 55 7/8 inches)
Initialed and dated lower right: RM 17
#6. Untitled, 2021
USD 16,250
Untitled, 2021
Acrylic, oil, and charcoal on canvas
226.1 x 226.1 cm (89 x 89 inches)
Signed and dated on the reverse: RM 21
#7. Señora, 2013
USD 15,625
Señora, 2013
Mixed media on canvas
162.6 x 130.8 cm (64 x 51-1/2 inches)
Initialed and titled on the reverse: RM/ Señora
Lots Passed
Untitled, 2021
Sotheby’s New-York: 28 February 2025
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
PASSED
Untitled | Contemporary Discoveries | 2025 | Sotheby’s
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
Untitled, 2021
Acrylic and paper collage on canvas
140.3 x 183.2 cm (55 1/4 x 72 1/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated 21 (on the reverse)
2024 Auction Results
9 lots sold at auction in 2024 for a total turnover of USD 451,530. With 2 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 82%. The highest price has been achieved at Phillips in New-York, on 12 December 2024, when Libre, a painting dated 2014, sold for USD 88,900.
2024 Top 3 Lots
#1. Libre, 2014
Phillips New-York: 12 December 2024
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 50,000
USD 88,900
Rafa Macarrón – Modern & Contemporar… Lot 3 December 2024 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Libre, 2014
Mixed media on canvas
140 x 260.4 cm (55 1/8 x 102 1/2 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated “RM 14 LIBRE….” lower right
#2. Untitled, 2012
Phillips London: 17 September 2024
Estimated: GBP 35,000 – 45,000
GBP 60,960 / USD 80,530
Rafa Macarrón – Modern & Contempor… Lot 17 September 2024 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Untitled, 2012
Acrylic, crayon, graphite, ballpoint pen and glue on canvas, in artist’s frame
240×140 cm (94 1/2 x 55 1/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘RM 12’ lower right
#3. Playa Lunar (Moon Beach), 2016
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 May 2024
Estimated: HKD 300,000 – 500,000
HKD 504,000 / USD 64,520
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981), Playa Lunar (Moon Beach) | Christie’s (christies.com)
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981)
Playa Lunar (Moon Beach), 2016
Acrylic, spray paint, ink, collage on canvas (diptych)
Each: 100 x 119.5 cm (39 3/8 x 47 inches)
Overall: 100×239 cm (39 3/8 x 94 1/8 inches)
#4. Angeles, 2016
Phillips London: 19 April 2024
Estimated: GBP 30,000 – 50,000
GBP 40,640 / USD 50,535
Rafa Macarrón – New Now: Modern & Con… Lot 152 April 2024 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Angeles, 2016
Plastic, oil pastel, acrylic, pen, felt-tip pen, resin and spray paint on paper collage laid on aluminum
183×183 cm (72×72 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘ANGELES RM 16’ lower right
#5. Untitled, 2021
Phillips London: 5 December 2024
Estimated: GBP 25,000 – 35,000
GBP 31,750 / USD 40,310
Rafa Macarrón – Modern & Contempora… Lot 23 November 2024 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Untitled, 2021
Acrylic, ink and paper collage on canvas
140.3 x 183.3 cm (55 1/4 x 72 1/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘RM 21’ on the reverse
#6. Bonita Noche, 2013
Phillips London: 5 December 2024
Estimated: GBP 25,000 – 35,000
GBP 31,750 / USD 40,310
Rafa Macarrón – Modern & Contempora… Lot 21 November 2024 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Bonita Noche, 2013
Acrylic, ink, crayon and mixed media collage on linen, in artist’s acrylic box frame
163.5 x 131.5 cm (64 3/8 x 51 3/4 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘RM 13’ lower right
#7. Untitled, 2021
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 9 November 2024
Estimated: HKD 200,000 – 400,000
HKD 252,000 / USD 32,425
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981), Untitled | Christie’s
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981)
Untitled, 2021
Mixed media and paper collage on canvas
140×183 cm (55 1/8 x 72 inches)
Signed with artist’s initials and dated ‘RM21’ (on the reverse)
#8. Untitled, 2016
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 12 November 2024
Estimated: HKD 200,000 – 400,000
HKD 252,000 / USD 32,410
RAFA MACARRON (B. 1981), Untitled | Christie’s
RAFA MACARRON (B. 1981)
Untitled, 2016
Mixed media and collage on aluminum mounted on board
183×183 cm (72×72 inches)
Signed and dated ‘Rm 16’ (lower right)
#9. El Poder De Mi Mente, 2013
Phillips New-York: 12 March 2024
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 21,590
Rafa Macarrón – New Now New York Lot 77 March 2024 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
El Poder De Mi Mente, 2013
Mixed media on canvas
129.5 x 63.5 cm (51×25 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated “RM 13 EL PODER DE MI MENTE.” lower right
2023 Auction Results
16 lots sold at auction in 2023 for a total turnover of USD 2,119,046. The highest price was achieved at Sotheby’s in Hong-Kong on 5 April 2023, when CAC I (2021) sold for HKD 4,445,000 (USD 566,234).
2023 Top 5 Lots
6 lots sold above USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 1,565,670, representing 73.9% of the total turnover for 2023.
#1. CAC I, 2021
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 5 April 2023
Estimated: HKD 3,500,000 – 5,500,000
HKD 4,445,000 / USD 566,249
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
CAC I, 2021
Mixed media on canvas, in 3 parts
Each: 366×226 cm (144 1/8 x 89 inches)
Overall: 366×678 cm (144 1/8 x 266 7/8 inches)
Signed, titled and dated 2021 on the reverse of the third panel
#2. Afterwork, 2018
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 6 April 2023
Estimated: HKD 1,200,000 – 1,800,000
HKD 2,540,000 / USD 323,571
Rafa Macarrón 拉法・馬卡龍 | Afterwork 下班後 | Contemporary Day Auction | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
Afterwork, 2018
Mixed media on canvas
226.3 x 183.2 cm (89 1/8 x 72 1/8 inches)
Signed and dated 18
#3. Océano, 2018
Ravenel Taiwan: 4 June 2023
Estimated: TWD 3,200,000 – 4,800,000
TWD 7,200,000 / USD 234,834
Ravenel | Rafa Macarrón《Océano》 Ravenel Spring Auction 2023 Taipei Lot 254
RAFA MACARRON
Océano, 2018
Mixed media on canvas
182×182 cm
Signed lower right RM dated 2018
#4. Untitled, 2021
Christie’s London: 1 March 2023
Estimated: GBP 60,000 – 80,000
GBP 151,200 / USD 181,971
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981) (christies.com)
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981)
Untitled, 2021
Acrylic, spray enamel, oil, pastel, ballpoint pen and charcoal on canvas
140 x 183.5 cm (55 1/8 x 72 1/4 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘RM 21’ (on the reverse)
#5. Untitled, 2020
Christie’s Shanghai: 23 September 2023
Estimated: CNY 300,000 – 500,000
CNY 945,000 / USD 129,798
RAFA MACARRON (B. 1981) (christies.com)
RAFA MACARRON (B. 1981)
Untitled, 2020
Mixed media on canvas
226×226 cm (89×89 inches)
Signed with initials and dated ‘Rm 20’ (lower right)
#6. 343 Almas, 2017
Phillips Hong-Kong: 25 May 2023
Estimated: HKD 800,000 – 1,200,000
HKD 1,016,000 / USD 129,679
Rafa Macarrón – Disruptors: Evening Sal… Lot 327 May 2023 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
343 Almas, 2017
Mixed media on aluminum
183×296 cm (72 x 116 1/2 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘RM 17’ lower right
USD 100,000
#7. Untitled, 2019
Phillips Hong-Kong: 31 March 2023
Estimated: HKD 500,000 – 700,000
HKD 698,500 / USD 88,980
Rafa Macarrón – 20th Century & Contem… Lot 239 March 2023 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Untitled, 2019
Mixed media on canvas
187 x 145.5 cm. (73 5/8 x 57 1/4 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘Rm 19’ lower right
#8. Menuda Cabalgata, 2015
Phillips London: 24 May 2023
Estimated: GBP 60,000 – 80,000
GBP 69,850 / USD 86,383
Rafa Macarrón – Wired: Online Auction London Lot 8 May 2023 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Menuda Cabalgata, 2015
Acrylic, ink, crayon and mixed media collage on PVC, in artist’s acrylic box
139.6 x 140.2 cm (54 7/8 x 55 1/4 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘RM 15’ lower right
#9. Textil, 2018
Sotheby’s New-York: 28 September 2023
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 76,200
Textil | Contemporary Curated | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
Textil, 2018
Acrylic, ink, wood, buttons, plastic and paper collage on canvas
183 x 183 x 8.9 cm (72 x 72 x 3 1/2 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials RM and dated 18 (lower right)
#10. Un día en la playa, 2017
Phillips London: 13 July 2023
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 57,785 / USD 75,664
RAFA MACARRON
Un día en la playa, 2017
Acrylic, ink, crayon, paper and plastic collage on linen, in artist’s acrylic box
114.5 x 114.5 cm (45 1/8 x 45 1/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘RM 17’ lower right
#11. Sin título (Los lirios del campo y las aves del cielo), 2016
Sotheby’s London: 13 October 2023
Estimated: GBP 70,000 – 100,000
GBP 57,150 / USD 69,356
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
Sin título (Los lirios del campo y las aves del cielo), 2016
Acrylic on aluminium
139.2 x 295.6 cm (54 3/4 x 116 3/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated 16 (lower right)
#12. Atmosfera II, 2015
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 November 2023
Estimated: HKD 300,000 – 500,000
HKD 403,200 / USD 51,726
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981) (christies.com)
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981)
Atmosfera II, 2015
Mixed media on aluminum
229×147 cm (90 1/8 x 57 7/8 inches)
Signed with artist’s initials and inscribed ‘Rm BACH’ (lower right)
#13. Anocheciendo, 2014
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 May 2023
Estimated: HKD 200,000 – 400,000
HKD 327,600 / USD 41,848
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981), Anocheciendo | Christie’s (christies.com)
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981)
Anocheciendo, 2014
Mixed media on canvas
162×130 cm (63 3/4 x 51 1/8 inches)
Signed with artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘ANOCHECIENDO Rm. 14’ (lower right)
#14. Untitled, 2000
Phillips Hong-Kong: 7 December 2023
Estimated: HKD 150,000 – 250,000
HKD 190,500 / USD 24,889
Rafa Macarrón – 20th Century & Conte… Lot 8 November 2023 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Untitled, 2000
Oil on canvas
146 x 114.2 cm (57 1/2 x 44 7/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘RM 00’ lower right
#15. Sin título, 2015
Sotheby’s London: 17 August 2023
Estimated: GBP 10,000 – 15,000
GBP 16,510 / USD 21,050
Sin título | Contemporary Discoveries | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
Sin título, 2015
Mixed media on aluminium mounted on board
53 x 33.5 cm (20 7/8 x 13 1/4 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials
#16. 27 A, 2016
Sotheby’s New-York: 3 October 2023
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 17,780
27 A | Contemporary Discoveries | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
27 A, 2016
Mixed media on aluminum
53×26 cm (20 7/8 x 10 1/4 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated 16 (on the reverse)
2022 Auction Results
29 lots sold at auction in 2022 for a total turnover of USD 5,000,087. With only 2 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is a solid 94%. The highest price was reached by Matilda (2018) that sold at Sotheby’s in Hong-Kong on 7 April 2022 for HKD 4,032,000 (USD 513,840).
2022 Top 5 Lots
21 lots sold above USD 100,000 for a cumulative turnover of USD 4,438,941, representing 88.8% of the total turnover for 2022.
#1. Matilda, 2018
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 27 April 2022
Estimated: HKD 1,500,000 – 2,500,000
HKD 4,032,000 / USD 513,840
Rafa Macarrón 拉法・馬卡龍 | Matilda 瑪蒂爾達 | Contemporary Evening Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)
RAFA MACARRON (B. 1981)
Matilda, 2018
Mixed media on canvas
226×184 cm (89 x 72 ½ inches)
Initialed, titled and dated 18
#2. Machaquito, 2011
Phillips London: 30 June 2022
Estimated: GBP 100,000 – 150,000
GBP 327,600 / USD 398,346
Rafa Macarrón – 20th Century & Contempo… Lot 26 June 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Machaquito, 2011
Mixed media on canvas, in 3 parts
Each: 196.5 x 98.5 cm (77 3/8 x 38 3/4 inches)
Overall: 196.5 x 295.5 cm (77 3/8 x 116 3/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘Machaquito RM 11.’ lower right
#3. La Perrera, 2018
Phillips New-York: 18 May 2022
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 378,000
Rafa Macarrón – 20th Century & Contempor… Lot 32 May 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
La Perrera, 2018
Mixed media on canvas
226.1 x 140.3 cm (89 x 55 1/4 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated “Rm 18” lower right
#4. Precioso Dia (Precious Day), 2014
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 25 May 2022
Estimated: HKD 500,000 – 800,000
HKD 2,250,000 / USD 321,023
RAFA MACARRON (B. 1981) (christies.com)
RAFA MACARRON (B. 1981)
Precioso Dia (Precious Day), 2014
Mixed media on canvas
146 x 280.3 cm (57 1⁄2 x 110 3⁄8 inches)
#5. Perrera (Dog House), 2014-2015
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 27 May 2022
Estimated: HKD 200,000 – 400,000
HKD 2,142,000 / USD 272,883
RAFA MACARRON (B. 1981) (christies.com)
RAFA MACARRON (B. 1981)
Perrera (Dog House), 2014-2015
Mixed media on canvas
182×182 cm (71 5/8 x 71 5/8 inches)
Signed with artist’s initials and titled ‘Rm. Perrera’ (lower right)
#6. Untitled, 2020
Christie’s London: 30 June 2022
Estimated: GBP 100,000 – 150,000
GBP 201,600 / USD 242,950
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981) (christies.com)
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981)
Untitled, 2020
Oil, spraypaint, wax crayon, marker, tape, metal pins, painted wood and found plastic on canvas
180×180 cm (70 7⁄8 x 70 7⁄8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘Rm 20’ (lower right)
#7. Los mentores, 2013
Phillips New-York: 19 May 2022
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 226,800
Rafa Macarrón – 20th Century & Contempo… Lot 351 May 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Los mentores, 2013
Mixed media on canvas
195×130 cm (76 3/4 x 51 1/4 inches)
#8. Bajo el Agua, 2020
Sotheby’s New-York: 17 November 2022
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 189,000
Bajo el Agua | Contemporary Day Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)
RAFA MACARRON (B. 1981)
Bajo el Agua, 2020
Acrylic, ink, crayon and paper collage on canvas
189.9 x 304.2 cm (74 ¾ x 119 ¾ inches)
#9. Naturaleza Muerta 1, 2017
Phillips New-York: 9 March 2022
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
USD 189,000
Rafa Macarrón – New Now New York Lot 37 March 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Naturaleza Muerta 1, 2017
Mixed media on canvas
113×113 cm (44 1/2 x 44 1/2 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated “RM 17” lower right
#10. Sin título (Cosmos), 2015
Phillips Hong-Kong: 22 June 2022
Estimated: HKD 700,000 – 1,000,000
HKD 1,386,000 / USD 176,567
Rafa Macarrón – 20th Century & Contempo… Lot 49 June 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Sin título (Cosmos), 2015
Mixed media on aluminium and PVC
183×296 cm (72 x 116 1/2 inches)
Signed and dated ‘RM 15’ lower right
#11. Pets, 2018
Estimated: TWD 3,200,000 – 5,000,000
TWD 5,280,000 / USD 172,605
RAFA MACARRON
Pets, 2018
Mixed media on canvas
183×226 cm
Signed lower right RM and dated 2018
#12. Balcones, 2018
Phillips London: 3 March 2022
Estimated: GBP 30,000 – 50,000
GBP 126,000 / USD 167,843
Rafa Macarrón – 20th Century & Contempo… Lot 5 March 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Balcones, 2018
Mixed media on PVC
113×113 cm (44 1/2 x 44 1/2 inches)
#13. Diferente mundo, 2019
Ravenel Taiwan: 3 December 2022
Estimated: TWD 3,600,000 – 5,500,000
TWD 5,040,000 / USD 164,988
Ravenel | Rafa Macarrón《Diferente mundo》 Ravenel Autumn Auction 2022 Lot 069
RAFA MACARRON (Spanish, 1981)
Diferente mundo, 2019
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas
183×183 cm
Initialed lower right RM, titled Diferente mundo and dated 19
#14. Un Día en la Playa, 2013
Phillips London: 14 October 2022
Estimated: GBP 60,000 – 80,000
GBP 138,600 / USD 155,381
RAFA MACARRON
Un Día en la Playa, 2013
Acrylic, ink, crayon and paper collage on canvas, in artist’s acrylic box
135.5 x 259 cm (53 3/8 x 101 7/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘RM 13 UN DIA EN LA PLAYA’ lower right
#15. The Other Moon, 2019
Sotheby’s Singapore: 28 August 2022
Estimated: SGD 180,000 – 280,000
SGD 201,600 / USD 144,702
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
The Other Moon, 2019
Acrylic, mixed media on canvas
183×143 cm (72 x 56 1/4 inches)
Signed Rafa, titled The Other Moon and inscribed Hong Kong (lower right)
#16. ST, 2015
Sotheby’s London: 3 March 2022
Estimated: GBP 70,000 – 100,000
GBP 100,800 / USD 134,274
ST | Modern & Contemporary Day Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
ST, 2015
Mixed media on aluminium mounted on board
140×140 cm (55 1/8 x 55 1/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated 15
#17. Niña, 2018
Poly Hong-Kong: 13 July 2022
Estimated: HKD 800,000 – 1,600,000
HKD 1,020,000 / USD 129,937
#19. Aqui si llega, 2012
Phillips London: 29 June 2022
Estimated: GBP 70,000 – 100,000
GBP 100,800 / USD 122,434
Rafa Macarrón – 20th Century & Contemp… Lot 117 June 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Aqui si llega, 2012
Mixed media on canvas
146×114 cm (57 1/2 x 44 7/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘RM 12 Aqui si llega’ lower right
#20. Primera cita (First Date), 2012
Christie’s London: 2 March 2022
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 81,900 / USD 109,477
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981) (christies.com)
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981)
Primera cita (First Date), 2012
Oil, sand, pipe cleaners and mixed media on canvas
195×195 cm (76 3/4 x 76 3/4 inches)
Signed with artist’s initials and dated ‘RM 12’ (centre left)
#21. He Vuelto A Nacer, 2014
Phillips London: 8 December 2022
Estimated: GBP 80,000 – 120,000
GBP 80,900 / USD 100,208
Rafa Macarrón – New Now London Lot 32 December 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
He Vuelto A Nacer, 2014
Acrylic, ink, crayon and paper collage on canvas
140.3 x 260 cm (55 1/4 x 102 3/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘RM 14 HE VUELTO A NACER’ lower right
#22. Cosmos, 2017
Phillips Hong-Kong: 21 June 2022
Estimated: HKD 200,000 – 300,000
HKD 756,000 / USD 96,308
Rafa Macarrón – 20th Century & Contemp… Lot 104 June 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Cosmos, 2017
Mixed media on iron
53.6 x 53.6 cm (21 1/8 x 21 1/8 inches)
Signed ‘Rafa’ lower left
#23. Untitled, 2021
Phillips London: 8 December 2022
Estimated: GBP 60,000 – 80,000
GBP 75,600 / USD 92,499
Rafa Macarrón – New Now London Lot 47 December 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Untitled, 2021
Acrylic, ink and paper collage on canvas
140.3 x 183.3 cm (55 1/4 x 72 1/8 inches)
#24. Desconfinamiento (End of Lockdown), 2020
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 1 December 2022
Estimated: HKD 200,000 – 400,000
HKD 630,000 / USD 80,999
RAFA MACARRON (B. 1981) (christies.com)
RAFA MACARRON (B. 1981)
Desconfinamiento (End of Lockdown), 2020
Mixed media on canvas
113 x 110.5 cm (44 1/2 x 43 1/2 inches)
Signed with artist’s initials and dated ‘Rm 20’ (lower right)
#25. Los Pasteles, 2013
Phillips New-York: 28 September 2022
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 90,000
USD 75,600
Rafa Macarrón – New Now New York Lot 26 September 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Los Pasteles, 2013
Mixed media on canvas
144.8 x 113 cm (57 x 44 1/2 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and titled “LOS PASTELES Rm” lower right
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated “Rm 13 LOS PASTELES.” on the reverse
#26. Untitled, 2021
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 6 October 2022
Estimated: HKD 600,000 – 1,000,000
HKD 567,000 / USD 72,230
Rafa Macarrón 拉法・馬卡龍 | Untitled 無題 | Contemporary Day Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
Untitled, 2021
Acrylic, mixed media on canvas
140.5 x 183.2 cm (55 1/4 x 72 1/8 inches)
Signed and dated 21 on the reverse
#27. Fractal + Meteorito 1, 2014
Christie’s New-York: 10 March 2022
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 60,480
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981), Fractal + Meteorito 1 | Christie’s (christies.com)
RAFA MACARRÓN (B. 1981)
Fractal + Meteorito 1, 2014
Mixed media on panel
113 x 113 x 10.2 cm (44 1/2 x 44 1/2 x 4 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘RM 14’ (lower right)
#28. Hormigas, 2013
Phillips London: 13 October 2022
Estimated: GBP 40,000 – 60,000
GBP 44,100 / USD 50,022
Rafa Macarrón – 20th Century & Cont… Lot 136 October 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Hormigas, 2013
Mixed media and paper collage on canvas, in artist’s acrylic box
Canvas: 99.2 x 99.2 cm (39×39 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘Rm 13 HORMIGAS’ lower left
#29. Historias Cotidianas (Two Works), 2020
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 8 July 2022
Estimated: HKD 200,000 – 300,000
HKD 252,000 / USD 32,108
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
Historias Cotidianas (Two Works), 2020
Mixed media on wood, in acrylic box
Each: 55×43 cm (21 3/4 x 17 inches)
2021 Auction Results
2 paintings sold in 2021, including one at Sotheby’s Hong-Kong for over USD 550,000 on 9 October 2021.
#1. Rutina Fluor (diptych), 2019
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 9 October 2021
Estimated: HKD 500,000 – 700,000
HKD 4,284,000 / USD 550,310
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
Rutina Fluor (diptych), 2019
Mixed media on canvas
Each: 226.2 x145.9 cm (89 x 57 1/2 inches)
Overall: 226.2 x294 cm (89 x 115 3/4 inches)
Initialed and dated 19
#2. Untitled, 2016
Sotheby’s New-York: 19 November 2021
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 75,600
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
Untitled, 2016
Mixed media on aluminum
69.9 x 43.2 cm (27 1/2 x 17 inches)
Signed with the initials RM and dated 16 (lower right)
PART III: FOCUS
Record Breakers
CAC I, 2021
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 5 April 2023
Estimated: HKD 3,500,000 – 5,500,000
HKD 4,445,000 / USD 566,249
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
CAC I, 2021
Mixed media on canvas, in 3 parts
Each: 366×226 cm (144 1/8 x 89 inches)
Overall: 366×678 cm (144 1/8 x 266 7/8 inches)
Signed, titled and dated 2021 on the reverse of the third panel
Rafa Macarrón’s animated and fantastical compositions imbue an uncanny air to the otherwise mundane, capturing the sentiment and humor of everyday life. A physiotherapist by training, Macarrón has a carefully studied knowledge of human anatomy, his characteristically elongated and distorted figures possessing a unique sense of personality and idiosyncrasy which has come to define the artist’s distinctive oeuvre. Exhibited as part of Macarrón’s Quince exhibit, the monumental CAC I (2021) is one of fifteen works created for CAC Málaga and is the largest work by the artist to have ever been offered at auction. As the first series by the artist to have been titled numerically, this designation leaves the viewer free to adventure through the surreal landscape of Macarron’s creation. Seeing a return to the white and black palette punctuated with slight shades of fluorine and ochre which characterized the artist’s early work, CAC I bares an enticing materiality and physical presence.
Using a diverse range of techniques when creating his paintings, the triptych CAC I sees Macarrón utilizing paper to achieve a variety of glazes to delimit the profiles of his characters. Macarrón’s focus on texture, lines and scale through the use of materials gives the artist “total freedom of expression” when depicting his endearingly bizarre and lovable characters (Rafa Macarrón, quoted in Rom Levy, “Artist Interview: Rafa Macarron”, Street Art News, October 26, 2021). Eschewing traditional and classical conventions of painting in the desire for a purer art, Macarrón’s work follows in the lineage of Dubuffet’s art brut, roughly translating to “raw art”. Derived more from intuition, CAC I corresponds with what the artist describes as painting’s function of “transmitting the emotion that we have inside to the viewer.” Professing a kinship with Spanish painting, particularly the El Paso group in Madrid and the New Figuration artists of Latin America, the influence of Goya’s black paintings can be felt in the present work. The palette of CAC I demonstrates Macarrón’s unique ability to create mood through color, with the artist creating the background before placing the figures within the composition, using the extremities of the figure, textures and background elements to break with the flatness of the background, thus generating volumes, textures, and a sense of perspective.
Machaquito, 2011
Phillips London: 30 June 2022
Estimated: GBP 100,000 – 150,000
GBP 327,600 / USD 398,346
Rafa Macarrón – 20th Century & Contempo… Lot 26 June 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Machaquito, 2011
Mixed media on canvas, in 3 parts
Each: 196.5 x 98.5 cm (77 3/8 x 38 3/4 inches)
Overall: 196.5 x 295.5 cm (77 3/8 x 116 3/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘Machaquito RM 11.’ lower right
Executed on an impressive scale in a carefully controlled palette of deep, forest greens counterpointed by vibrant shocks of fuchsia pink, orange, and cobalt, Untitled brings together a cast of Spanish artist Rafa Macarrón’s fascinatingly strange characters. Characterized by their wildly distorted faces, elongated limbs, and bulbous eyes, these humanoid figures and their playful incorporation of three-dimensional elements animate and disrupt the radically simplified landscape they are set within, juxtaposing a volumetric sense of form with the extreme flatness of the ground. Throughout the three-panel work Macarrón maintains deep chromatic and compositional harmonies that highlight the affection with which he approaches his characters, whose strangely misshapen bodies all seem to posses a unique energy and essence of their own.
“The characters come out of my everyday life and I take them out of context. They could be individuals living with us. When I create them, I always like to imagine where they come from, what they do, where they go, what life they have.”
Throughout the three-panel work Macarrón maintains deep chromatic and compositional harmonies that highlight the affection with which he approaches his characters, whose strangely misshapen bodies all seem to posses a unique energy and essence of their own.
La Perrera, 2018
Phillips New-York: 18 May 2022
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 378,000
Rafa Macarrón – 20th Century & Contempor… Lot 32 May 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
La Perrera, 2018
Mixed media on canvas
226.1 x 140.3 cm (89 x 55 1/4 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated “Rm 18” lower right
Executed in 2018, Rafa Macarrón’s La Perrera is a luminous example of the artist’s dreamscapes that have bolstered him to international acclaim. Oscillating between reality and imagination, this large-scale composition showcases the striking chromaticism and uncanny characters for which the rising Madrid-born artist is best known. Here, his iconic hybrid-dog figures appear to float alongside ladders in a celestial realm of neon hues, embodying his propensity for transforming the everyday into monumental transcendence. Drawing inspiration from such canonical masters as Pablo Picasso, Jean Dubuffet, and Francisco Goya, Macarrón’s compositions channel the unbound visual expression of Surrealism and the childlike imagery of Art Brut.
“I have a very direct relationship with Spanish painting, I have practically grown up in the Prado Museum…and Goya’s black paintings have always moved me. My characters are born from a fantastic, surreal, and expressionist figuration. I consider them hybrid characters that are closely related to my admiration for Dubuffet, Manuel Bonifacio, and Alfonso Fraile.”
In La Perrera, Macarrón conjures a remarkable fusion of his noted influences—namely Goya’s The Drowning Dog and Dubuffet’s Six Fish and Bird—as well as his Spanish predecessor Joan Miró, whose symbolic ladders function as dreams of escape. Macarrón devoted himself to his painterly practice in 2006, finding liberation as a self-taught artist to directly apply his personal experiences and unique sensibility onto the canvas. For Macarrón, the heart of his process and creations lies in the unhindered freedom of expression, which manifests in his dazzling use of color to build his dreamlike atmospheres. In La Perrera, Macarrón elevates contemporary life into mystic worlds crafted from his spirited imagination.
Matilda, 2018
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 27 April 2022
Estimated: HKD 1,500,000 – 2,500,000
HKD 4,032,000 / USD 513,840
Rafa Macarrón 拉法・馬卡龍 | Matilda 瑪蒂爾達 | Contemporary Evening Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)
RAFA MACARRON (B. 1981)
Matilda, 2018
Mixed media on canvas
226×184 cm (89 x 72 ½ inches)
Initialed, titled and dated 18
Glowing different hues of magenta, Matilda is a superb example of the artist’s work and his ability to create a mood through color. The artist elaborated: “I create the background and then I place the figure. I use the extremities of the figures, textures, or background elements to break with the flatness and generate volumes, textures, and a sense of perspective. Colors also help me create atmospheres, like when I use magentas to generate warmth”, as exemplified by the engulfing warmth that radiates from the present work (the artist quoted in, “Artist Interview: Rafa Macarron”, Street Art News, 26 October 2021, online).
Brimming with enthralling details, the focus of Matilda is on his signature, otherworldly figures, depicted smoking and standing around a dominant central figure, a horse-like form upon which a smaller figure with long red fingernails appears perched, holding loose black reins.
Rutina Fluor (diptych), 2019
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 9 October 2021
Estimated: HKD 500,000 – 700,000
HKD 4,284,000 / USD 550,310
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
Rutina Fluor (diptych), 2019
Mixed media on canvas
Each: 226.2 x145.9 cm (89 x 57 1/2 inches)
Overall: 226.2 x294 cm (89 x 115 3/4 inches)
Initialed and dated 19
Young, emerging artist, Rafa Macarrón, has caught the attention of the international art world with his dazzling dreamscapes of uncanny cartoon-like characters, executed in his signature ebullient palette of luminous, neon hues. Rutina Fluor (2019), exhibited at his solo exhibition at the Allouche Gallery in New York, Fluorescent Routine (September – October 2019), typifies the artist’s surprising imagery that enthralls the viewer with its complex, composite parts. Celebrating the everyday, Fluorescent Routine captures the excitement of ordinary life and reveals a different way of looking at one’s daily routine. In this series, the artist depicts various everyday objects and activities, such as blow drying one’s hair, waiting for a bus and playing in a park, as represented in Rutina Fluor.
Rutina Fluor is a playful embodiment of the title of the exhibition “Fluorescent Routine”, in both the fluorescent orange that emanates from the background, and in the meaning of the Spanish word “rutina” which translates to “routine”. Macarrón is inspired by an array of different influences, including comic strips, the forms of French painter and sculptor Jean Dubuffet, and the work of Surrealist artist Roberto Matta, all of which are illustrated in works such as Rutina Fluor. Perched above rolling hills evocative of the grassy floor of a park, two bespectacled characters face one-another, reaching out across the central divide, multi-fingered hands outstretched. A mysterious smaller figure floats amongst the clouds, cigarette hanging precariously from its mouth. Macarrón marvelously crafts a rich patchwork of color and pattern, hinting at darker themes despite the apparent child-like imagery.
Works on Canvas
Un día en la playa, 2017
Phillips London: 13 July 2023
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 57,785 / USD 75,664
Rafa Macarrón – New Now London Lot 20 July 2023 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Un día en la playa, 2017
Acrylic, ink, crayon, paper and plastic collage on linen, in artist’s acrylic box
114.5 x 114.5 cm (45 1/8 x 45 1/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘RM 17’ lower right
“My painting is realistic surrealism, my characters could live among us or in another world.”
In the tender scenes of daily life that characterize Spanish artist Rafa Macarron’s bold, bright canvases, the beach plays an especially important role. A democratic and inclusive public space, the beach is where young and old, rich and poor can gather together in leisure – a true representation of the rich diversity and narrative complexity of contemporary life. Just as the vibrant, everyday energy of Paris’ streets dominated Jean Dubuffet’s work after his return to the city in the 1960s, bathers and the beach provide the perfect premise for Macarrón’s artistic investigation of the everyday. Tellingly, bathers and beaches formed the central focus of Macarrón’s first solo exhibition El bañista (The Bather) at Fundación La Nave Salinas in Ibiza in 2021, and more recently the City Council of Estepona, Malaga has recently unveiled Macarrón’s large sculptural figure Perro I on its seafront.
“I don’t like to put titles, but ‘El Bañista’ has been the guiding thread of the work and all the elements have to do with the beach, the clothing, the spaces …”
Focused on community, class, and leisure, Macarrón’s beach scenes continue a late 19th century trend in painting first explored by the likes of Éugene Boudin and Édouard Manet and developed in the joyous, brightly colored canvases of Raoul Dufy. Indeed, while the beach provides the perfect conceit for bringing together a whole host of Macarrón’s instantly recognizable and highly animated figures, the saturated coastal light also allows the artist to explore the expressive power of color. Recalling the rich intensity of André Derain and Henri Matisse’s depictions of Antibes and St. Tropez, Macarrón confidently uses color to generate certain moods within his works.
Here, Macarrón’s use of cooler, blue-toned hues imbues the work with a calmer, uplifting quality that recalls fellow Spaniard Pablo Picasso’s celebrated cycle of bathers from the 1930s. Like Picasso too, drawing is central to Macarrón’s practice, the elongated limbs and exaggerated features of his highly animated figures retaining a strikingly graphic quality that is grounded in the anatomical knowledge that he developed during his training as a physiotherapist. At once familiar and alien, in these playful scenes of everyday life, Macarrón captures something of the simplicity of sociability and the need for community and human connectivity.
Océano, 2018
Ravenel Taiwan: 4 June 2023
Estimated: TWD 3,200,000 – 4,800,000
TWD 7,200,000 / USD 234,834
Ravenel | Rafa Macarrón《Océano》 Ravenel Spring Auction 2023 Taipei Lot 254
RAFA MACARRON
Océano, 2018
Mixed media on canvas
182×182 cm
Signed lower right RM dated 2018
Born in 1981, Madrid, Rafa Macarron is a self-taught contemporary artist from Spain. His eccentric and colorful style has captivated many European and American art collectors. Drawing from his childhood memories as inspiration, Macarron created nostalgic scenery from ordinary life. With an unrestrained and childlike creativity, he created many whimsical illustrations of outer space. In his paintings, Macarron depicted his characters with proportions of extra-terrestrial humanoids. With huge eyes and long eyelashes, they hold exaggerated poses with their soft rubbery limbs, conveying many humorous stories within the paintings. In his works, people are similar yet very different – similar to real life, everyone harbors a distinctive mind, appearance, and background.
“I am an optimist, I hope to use my works to tell everyone that in any ordinary moments, there are also joys that are worth cherishing.”
The artist used paper collage, acrylic paint, and other materials to create a square-shaped blue space. Océano was created in 2018, the entire work has charming colors and harmonious composition. The rich and vibrant bright yellow covers the whole picture. The artist boldly deforms the characters under his brushes, both mankind and animals look exaggerated and weird yet interesting, distorted faces, bulbous eyes, slender limbs, but like cartoon people, with a pair of big hands with countless fingers. The unrestrained imagination of the artist creates a naive and dreamy universe, which turns the moments of everyday life into fantasy, refreshing and full of wonder.
Pets, 2018
Estimated: TWD 3,200,000 – 5,000,000
TWD 5,280,000 / USD 172,605
RAFA MACARRON
Pets, 2018
Mixed media on canvas
183×226 cm
Signed lower right RM and dated 2018
Rafa Macarron is an artist from Madrid, Spain, born in 1981. Macarron has been immersed in the artistic atmosphere since childhood, his parents are architects and also art collectors. He has been learning to paint since he was 4 years old, holding paint brushes all day long, his textbooks are painted full with his childhood imagination. He has visited the studios of well-known artists such as Spanish artist Juan Barjola. Barjola recognized Macarron’s talent for painting and encouraged him to create continuously. Therefore Macarron has never had systematic artistic training. He treated art as a hobby and became a cyclist and a physiotherapist, these two occupations have played an important role in his future creations. Pets was created in 2018, the entire work has charming colors and harmonious composition. The rich and vibrant bright yellow covers the whole picture. The artist boldly deforms the characters under his brushes, both mankind and pet (animals) look exaggerated and weird yet interesting, distorted faces, bulbous eyes, slender limbs, but like cartoon people, with a pair of big hands with countless fingers. The unrestrained imagination of the artist creates a naive and dreamy universe, which turns the moments of everyday life into fantasy, refreshing and full of wonder.
Diferente mundo, 2019
Ravenel Taiwan: 3 December 2022
Estimated: TWD 3,600,000 – 5,500,000
TWD 5,040,000 / USD 164,988
Ravenel | Rafa Macarrón《Diferente mundo》 Ravenel Autumn Auction 2022 Lot 069
RAFA MACARRON (Spanish, 1981)
Diferente mundo, 2019
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas
183×183 cm
Initialed lower right RM, titled Diferente mundo and dated 19
Macarrón extracts information from everyday life and puts them into his paintings. Under his willpower, the paintings are a compilation of his autobiography that captures all aspects of life–including self experiences, childhood memories, and daily observations. With unique character styles and an impressive atmosphere, Macarrón’s contemporary group portraits are reminiscent of the works by classic art masters Jheronimus Bosch and Pieter Bruegel. The artist created a variety of characters that constantly evolved over the years, finally reaching their unique styles today. Their regeneration demonstrates the hope for new life through elongated or enlarged heads and slim limbs. In particular, Macarrón’s characters wear brightly colored nail polish regardless of their genders. The strange postures are truly fascinating. The artist recalls being inspired by a French woman he saw in Montparnasse Paris when he was five years old. The vivid impression has led him to paint all characters with vibrantly colored nail polish. The depiction of hands is undoubtedly the most eye-catching element in Macarrón’s paintings. The artist believes that humans express emotions through their eyes and hands. Hence the hands can be expressively drawn to attract viewers’ attention.
Looking at Macarrón’s 2019 large oil painting Diferente Mundo as an example, the artist used paper collage, acrylic paint, and other materials to create a square-shaped green space. The richly layered background colors and lightly coated paints symbolized an ethereal atmosphere that combined with well-textured group portraits to form a profoundly magical universe. The artist playfully experimented with the spatial structure and illusion. Some of the artist’s multidimensional spaces resembled fictional rooms, while others look like swimming pools, beaches, unknown mountains, and planets with fantastical elements such as clouds, rainwater, towers, long stairs, and aircrafts. The interactions and gestures between unique characters and animals, and their puzzling eyes expressing tenderness, naivety, and desires are examples of Macarrón’s depiction of smooth, magical, yet in-depth paintings from his personal experiences. As opposed to the barren pessimism of existentialism, these thought-provoking and self-reflective contemporary fable paintings are truly precious in our era.
Un Día en la Playa, 2013
Phillips London: 14 October 2022
Estimated: GBP 60,000 – 80,000
GBP 138,600 / USD 155,381
RAFA MACARRON
Un Día en la Playa, 2013
Acrylic, ink, crayon and paper collage on canvas, in artist’s acrylic box
135.5 x 259 cm (53 3/8 x 101 7/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated ‘RM 13 UN DIA EN LA PLAYA’ lower right
Strikingly democratic as a public space, the beach is a place where people come together across generational and class divides, locals and holidaymakers staking out a place on the sand from which to relax and enjoy the warm weather, reading alone or playing in the surf with their children. Such a scene seems particularly well-suited to Macarrón’s artistic project to capture the everyday, the loose arrangement of his signature figures in Un Día en la Playa evoking all of the relaxed atmosphere of a day at the beach while the intense hues of saturated orange and azure blue seem particularly charged with the heat of the Mediterranean sun.
A recurring setting in Macarrón’s painting, the beach is an entirely modern concept. Newly accessible by rail and promoting a very modern mode of leisure, areas of the European coastline were reinvented over the course of the 19th century from working seascapes to specially designated holiday destinations industry that especially captured the imaginations of artists interested in the shifting coastal light and fleeting impressions of modernity concentrated there.
Niña, 2018
Poly Hong-Kong: 13 July 2022
Estimated: HKD 800,000 – 1,600,000
HKD 1,020,000 / USD 129,937
Los mentores, 2013
Phillips New-York: 19 May 2022
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 226,800
Rafa Macarrón – 20th Century & Contempo… Lot 351 May 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Los mentores, 2013
Mixed media on canvas
195×130 cm (76 3/4 x 51 1/4 inches)
“My characters don’t go towards the caricature. I flee away from all kinds of cartoonish ornamentation. They are born from a fantastic, surreal, and expressionist figuration. I consider them hybrid characters that are closely related to my admiration for Dubuffet, Bonifacio, and Alfonso Fraile. My characters live in a transcended daily life, clean days, sunsets, and fresh air.”
Rafa Macarrón interprets reality though joyful, invented characters based on people he encounters in everyday life. Building fantastical worlds in his canvases, the Spanish artist, a self-taught, former professional cyclist, imagines idyllic backstories for each of his characters, set in color-washed compositions that play with scale in flattened space. Macarrón draws influence from Spanish forebears, including Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Francisco Goya and the El Paso group, a collective of painters who worked in the style of Art Informel from 1957-1960. Set against a Rothko-esque background rendered in DayGlo, Macarrón’s schematic figures, featuring wide-open eyes on oversized heads, populate a realm filled with objects both recognizable— a ladder, a table, a cigarette— and imagined.
Naturaleza Muerta 1, 2017
Phillips New-York: 9 March 2022
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
USD 189,000
Rafa Macarrón – New Now New York Lot 37 March 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Naturaleza Muerta 1, 2017
Mixed media on canvas
113×113 cm (44 1/2 x 44 1/2 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated “RM 17” lower right
“The materials used in my painting give me total freedom of expression. The spray gives modernity, dynamism, and color. The pencils and the marker create the weft, the waxes, the acrylics and the gouaches, nuanced transparencies and the oil brings complexity.”
Works on Aluminum
Sin título (Los lirios del campo y las aves del cielo), 2016
Sotheby’s London: 13 October 2023
Estimated: GBP 70,000 – 100,000
GBP 57,150 / USD 69,356
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
Sin título (Los lirios del campo y las aves del cielo), 2016
Acrylic on aluminium
139.2 x 295.6 cm (54 3/4 x 116 3/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials, titled and dated 16 (lower right)
Rafa Macarrón’s animated and fantastical compositions imbue an uncanny air to the otherwise mundane, capturing the sentiment and humor of everyday life. A physiotherapist by training, Macarrón has a carefully studied knowledge of human anatomy, his characteristically elongated and distorted figures possessing a unique sense of personality and idiosyncrasy which has come to define the artist’s distinctive oeuvre.
Professing a kinship with Spanish painting, particularly the El Paso group in Madrid and the New Figuration artists of Latin America, the influence of Goya’s black paintings can be felt in the present work. The palette of Sin título (Los lirios del campo y las aves del cielo) demonstrates Macarrón’s unique ability to create mood through color, with the artist creating the background before placing the figures within the composition, using the extremities of the figure, textures and curious micro scenes within the composition to break with the flatness of the background, thus generating a unique iconography for which today he is celebrated.
343 Almas, 2017
Phillips Hong-Kong: 25 May 2023
Estimated: HKD 800,000 – 1,200,000
HKD 1,016,000 / USD 129,679
Rafa Macarrón – Disruptors: Evening Sal… Lot 327 May 2023 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
343 Almas, 2017
Mixed media on aluminum
183×296 cm (72 x 116 1/2 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘RM 17’ lower right
Rendered with bold lines, vibrant colors and a childlike aesthetic, Spanish artist Rafa Macarrón’s idiosyncratic creatures have come to represent the artist as his signature motif. His style of figuration is wholly unique, producing cartoon-like characters with elongated limbs and exaggerated features, perhaps informed by his previous profession as a physiotherapist. Channelling the primitive styles and expressionist elements found in the works by art historical giants, such as Pablo Picasso, Francisco Goya, Jean Dubuffet and Alfonso Fraile, Macarrón similarly shares in their endeavors to develop a distinct aesthetic in figurative painting, one which is often infused with his personal experiences, emotions, and a sense of playfulness.
343 Almas, translating to 343 souls, is an eccentric work by Macarrón that refers to the number of characters in the painting, each with its own unique composition of abstract shapes, vibrant colors, and collaged elements. These protagonists are characterized by a unique sense of energy and movement, with various shapes, movements and colors interacting in dynamic ways. Instead of focusing on any specific subject or theme, Rafa Macarrón’s art goes beyond traditional artistic boundaries, creating an intimate connection with both the viewer and society as a whole by evoking a sense of energy and emotion with his unique style of characterization, reflecting his own incessant drive to capture the world around him.
Macarrón’s characters are easily identifiable, featuring highly individualized personalities conveyed through simplified gestures. Macarrón seeks to not only create his own art but also to portray the movement and creation of others. As he trained as a physiotherapist, Macarrón possesses a deep understanding of the human anatomy, which he incorporates into his creative process.
“To create my elongated figures requires knowledge and respect for anatomy. I know the structure of the body perfectly. Then, I begin to try out distortions and deformations, which I think works very well. I am able to create my own characters, each with their own soul and personality.”
Despite their dramatic deformations, the dreamlike scenes and unusual figures in his work exude tenderness and approachability. Macarrón’s painting disrupts traditional notions of representation and medium within the genre of figurative painting. His distinct characters command the viewer’s attention within each piece, representing both the universal and the unique.
Sin título (Cosmos), 2015
Phillips Hong-Kong: 22 June 2022
Estimated: HKD 700,000 – 1,000,000
HKD 1,386,000 / USD 176,567
Rafa Macarrón – 20th Century & Contempo… Lot 49 June 2022 | Phillips
RAFA MACARRON
Sin título (Cosmos), 2015
Mixed media on aluminium and PVC
183×296 cm (72 x 116 1/2 inches)
Signed and dated ‘RM 15’ lower right
Characterised by the host of surreal, whimsical characters that populate his work, Spanish artist Rafa Macarrón’s Sin título (Cosmos) exudes a stylistic flair that resembles artists such as Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso and Jean Dubuffet. Carrying a sense of tranquillity, tenderness and wonder, Macarrón’s fluid, dreamlike realms seem to be suspended in time, free from the restraints of literal interpretation. As his compositions unfurl in expansions of colour and fleeting lines, Macarrón presents an inventive futuristic cosmos inhabited by a cast of peculiar creatures, building bridges and houses across the Earth and sun. With his work, Macarrón seeks a freedom of expression through a variety of materials.
‘The spray gives modernity, dynamism, and color. The pencils and the marker create the weft, the waxes, the acrylics and the gouaches, nuanced transparencies and the oil brings complexity.”
In playing with deformity, Macarrón emphasizes the idea that no two people are alike, and that each deserves to be celebrated for their uniqueness. The artist designs his characters with a consideration for their background stories, elevating everyday activities with mysticism and provocation. Amidst the dazzling detail in Sin título (Cosmos), Macarrón’s flawed, imperfect characters are living their ordinary lives: holding an umbrella to shield themselves from cosmic showers or smoking a cigarette off their balconies. Seemingly mundane activities are distorted with outlandish figures with eyes that pop out of their heads or legs that cannot hold up the weight of their bodies. Macarrón’s colorful characters are reminiscent of childhood doodles, projecting a playful view of the world that is limitless and full of imagination.
Illustrating a similar child-like painterly aesthetic, Jean Dubuffet’s enigmatic, almost primitive works are defined by their vivid colors, rough brushwork and pronounced outlines, allowing the artist to achieve an unnerving impact with his work. Dubuffet began painting during WWII and coined the term Art Brut (raw art) to describe the raw, untrained qualities he was emulating in his paintings. Similar to Dubuffet, Macarrón’s works infuse creative aspects from children’s drawings and human anatomy. However, in contrast to Dubuffet, Macarrón’s approach is much more carefree in nature. Despite the deformity of his protagonists, Macarrón’s figures are rendered with tenderness and compassion. With a background in physiotherapy, Macarrón utilizes his understanding of human anatomy in portraying his characters, showcasing his detailed observation of everyday life and existence. He found that depicting the imperfections of the human body is ‘like creating your own body characters, each with their own soul and personality’, providing him an enriching source of inspiration.
Depicting a fancifully colored, poetic galaxy, Macarrón’s Sin título (Cosmos) encapsulates the same lyrical and surreal qualities as works by fellow Spanish painter, Joan Miró. Featuring some of Miró’s first biomorphic forms, Carnival of Harlequin depicts a crowded scene at a festival, where abstract characters seem to be caught up in a celebration. Though a simple horizon line is employed, Miró’s characters seem to be floating in mid-air, with the depth of the space undiscernible to the viewer. Placed before a sleek background, the figuration of the characters is enhanced, giving their personality more prominence.
Despite the suggestion of an expansive field through a comparison of scale between the sun and Earth, Macarrón also reduces the unfathomable depth of the galaxy into a shallow flat background in Sin título (Cosmos), yet the sense of an expansive field can still be felt by the viewer. Macarrón is able to achieve such an effect by creating backdrops before carefully placing the figures, juxtaposing the extremities of the figures, textures, or background elements with the flatness of the space, generating volume, texture, and a sense of perspective. In addition, depth is constructed through a unique, three-dimensional canvas with dynamic protrusions and depressions formed with geometric lines, transforming the work into a tactile landscape, enhanced as light and shadow reflect and refract from the surface. Color also helps to construct the surrounding atmosphere, evident through Macarrón’s use of luminescent oranges and bright magenta ‘to generate warmth’, as in the present lot. The dynamic ambience of his space metropolis is animated with a sense of motion and energy that transcends reality with an ethereal aura.
ST, 2015
Sotheby’s London: 3 March 2022
Estimated: GBP 70,000 – 100,000
GBP 100,800 / USD 134,274
ST | Modern & Contemporary Day Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)
RAFA MACARRON (b. 1981)
ST, 2015
Mixed media on aluminium mounted on board
140×140 cm (55 1/8 x 55 1/8 inches)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated 15
Otherworldly and alienesque, ST is a striking encapsulation of Rafa Macarron’s painterly universe. As Macarron’s fantastical creatures roam the dream-like landscape, the viewers are invited to enter the imaginary world. The characters of ST carry out ordinary tasks with extraordinary inventiveness, their elastic limbs and toe-hands sporadically spread outwards into outer space. As Macarron said in an interview: “I invite the viewer to look at things differently… I’d like the viewer to relate to my interpretation of reality and what surrounds us. I hope they experience my painting and its characters the same way I do, asking themselves: who are they? What is their life like? Where do they come from and where do they go?” (Rafa Macarron cited in: Rom Levy, ‘Rafa Macarron’, Street Art News, October 2021, online) Each with their own personality and soul, they invite the viewer on an adventure through the surreal landscape of Macarron’s creation.
A three-headed smoker of multiple limbs walks through the cosmic world of ST, drifting across the flat horizon. Spread across the heads in all directions are zip-like mouths of crescent or linear shapes, biting onto a cigarette or seemingly engaged in some space-speech. Bug-like or bulb-like, the eyes dart across in all directions as their hand-like feet and feet-like hands curiously gesture away into an unknown listener. The body is an amalgamation of multiple pieces, patched and laced together amidst the flailing, entangled limbs which seem to sport out from mysterious places. One red-nailed hand holds onto a loose leash, at the end of which are two bacteria-like creatures floating in the black, star speckled sky. Despite the puzzling anatomy, the creature is dressed to impress; adorned with colorful nails, oversized glasses and polka-dot sleeves, the alien creature flaunts the latest space trends as it walks its equally alien pets. Despite the drama of the deformity, the character is endearingly bizarre and oddly lovable.