The illustrator Miguel Calatayud exhibits 'Un mundo propio' at the Boca del Calvari Museum in Benidorm

The Department of Historical and Cultural Heritage of Benidorm City Council is finalizing the assembly of the exhibition 'Un mundo propio' by the artist and illustrator from Alicante Miguel Calatayud, which from this Friday can be visited at Boca del Calvari Museum. This was stated by the councillor Ana Pellicer, who announced that the exhibition takes place on Friday, starting at 7:30 p.m., and has invited citizens “to participate and enjoy” it.

Pellicer has explained that the origin of this exhibition is based on another exhibition held in Benidorm in 2022. One of the participants and a great friend of Miguel Calatayud expressed the similarity between Benidorm and the aspect and tone related to the leisure culture so present and recognizable in a comic by Miguel Calatayud titled 'La Pista Atlántica'. For not too long, the idea of paying attention to the matter took shape as an exhibition sample, which ended up being defined coinciding, precisely, with the reissue of said work by the Valencian publishing house Desfiladero.

The exhibition, which will remain at Boca del Calvari until the end of July, is curated by Loreto Rodríguez and has different parts. The Councilor for Historical and Cultural Heritage has specified that on floor -1 the visitor will be able to find a compendium of illustrations, whose story continues on the first floor dedicated to posters and graphic design with comics, posters and illustrations by Calatayud. On the ground floor are all the works related to 'La Pista Atlántica' and on the second floor, different projections are shown about his graphic novel 'El Pie Frito'.

Ana Pellicer has stated that for Benidorm “it will be a real luxury to be able to have the work of this reference in Valencian illustration” and she has been convinced that it “will not leave anyone indifferent.”

About Miguel Calatayud

Miguel Calatayud is an illustrator and cartoonist born in Aspe (Alicante), in 1942. He began his studies at the School of Applied Arts in Murcia, the city where he lived, and in 1961 he continued them in Valencia, at the Higher School of Fine Arts in San Carlos where he set his residence. He is considered an isolated and independent author or a precursor of the New Valencian School. He has received the most prestigious awards in the sector.

He began his career in the 1970s as an illustrator and created the series 'Peter Petrake' and 'Los doce trabajos de Hércules' for Trinca magazine, which shows, for Mariano Ayuso and Antonio Lara, “some beautiful drawings of exceptional colour and supreme elegance." 'Soy el aire' also belongs to this stage.

During the 80s he was one of the most prominent representatives of the so-called "Valencian clear line", along with Daniel Torres, Mique Beltrán, Micharmut and Sento.
He later became recognized for his illustration of works of children's literature, especially the most daring ones, such as those by Miquel Obiols or Carles Cano Peiró. With 'El pie Frito' he won the award for best work at Barcelona Comic Fair in 1998.

In the new century, he became the art director of the collection of illustrated albums Diálogo Infantil of Editorial Diálogo, previously specialized in philosophy books and for which he is looking for new authors. In this collection, he also illustrated the titles 'El Bosque de mi Abecedario', a book of poems by Pedro Villar, and 'Tres viajes' with texts by Jordi Botella. He also participated in the collective comic albums 'Tapa Roja' (2004) and 'Lanza en Astillero' (2005) by Ediciones Sinsentido.

He curated the exhibitions 'Animales en su tinta' and 'Originales para cinco rondallas' at the II Children's Book Fair in Alicante.

The Valencia illustrated book fair 'Baba Kamo. Festival i fira del llibre il·lustrat', in its first edition in December 2018, adopted this name in recognition of the work 'Kembo. Incidente en la pista del circo Medrano', (Kalandraka, 2009), written by Carlos Pérez and illustrated by Miguel Calatayud for whose work he earned the National Illustration Award.