Pepe Yagües

Pepe Yagües is a Spanish contemporary artist born in 1968 in Murcia, Spain. Graduated in Fine Arts from the University of Valencia, with a specialization in printmaking techniques, he has been developing a singular body of work since the early 1990s at the intersection of contemporary sculpture, sculpture, printmaking, the artist's book, drawing, and installation. His work mainly explores the themes of desire, love, the body, myth, and the human condition, through a poetic universe where literary references, classical symbols, and personal imagination meet.

Pepe Yagües' practice is deeply marked by the mastery of contemporary printmaking techniques, notably etching, which he associates with a plastic research around matter and narrative. His works, often populated by mythological figures such as the Minotaur, Daedalus, or Icarus, question the relationships between the human being, his passions, and his contradictions. His artistic language mixes sculpture, print, artist's book, and symbolic elements inspired by mythology, literature, and art history.

Since the 1990s, Pepe Yagües has obtained several awards in the field of printmaking, including the Manuel Broseta Printmaking Prize of the Cañada Blanch Foundation in Valencia in 1992, the Second Printmaking Prize of the International Competition of Cebreros in Ávila in 1993, an Honorary Mention at the IV Printmaking Competition of Ciudad de Burgos in 1993, and the Senyera Printmaking Prize in Valencia in 1994. These recognitions contribute to establishing his place among Spanish contemporary artists working with printmaking and graphic techniques.

His work has been presented in numerous international solo and group exhibitions. Among his major individual exhibitions are “From Apollo to Dionysus" at the Sala La Cárcel de Molina de Segura (Murcia, 1992), “Love's Ache" at the Marwan Hoss Gallery in Paris (1996), an exhibition at the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona and the Casa de América in Madrid (1997), “Apology for Love" at the Marwan Hoss Gallery in Paris (1998), “Human Landscape" at the Palacio Almudí Art Center in Murcia (2000), “Daedalus of Desire" at the Estiarte Gallery in Madrid (2000), “The Civilization of Desire" through various presentations and artistic projects, as well as recent exhibitions such as “The Light of Desire" at the La Aurora Gallery in Murcia (2023), “The Etched Desire" at the Cloister of the former Convent of Santo Domingo in Almería (2024), and “Stories" at the Lea Lodewijk Gallery in Bruges, Belgium (2025).

Pepe Yagües has also participated in many international contemporary art fairs and events such as ARCO Madrid, Art Basel, FIAC Paris, Art Strasbourg, Köln Messe, Art Brussels, Art Milan, or Art Seoul, contributing to the dissemination of his work to an international audience. His works are featured in several public collections and foundations, including the Marbella Museum of Contemporary Spanish Printmaking Foundation, the Pablo Neruda Foundation in Chile, the Federico García Lorca Foundation, the National Printmaking of Madrid, the University of Murcia, and various Spanish and European institutional collections.

Through a work where contemporary printmaking, poetic sculpture, mythology, and existential reflection meet, Pepe Yagües constructs a deeply personal artistic universe. His work, recognized for its symbolic richness and narrative dimension, places desire, love, and memory at the heart of a creation that dialogues with the great narratives of Western culture while affirming a contemporary approach to form and material.