The BritishSpanish Society is pleased to present an exclusive private view of Secreto Publico, a solo exhibition by London-based artist Emilio de la Morena. This evocative new body of work explores the intricate terrain of memory, lost languages, belonging, and sexual desire, filtered through the artist’s distinctive painterly language.

Having spent over 15 years in the fashion industry before embarking on his career as a visual artist, Emilio draws deeply from his past, developing a unique technique that blurs the boundaries between painting and textile. His abstract compositions employ oil, pigments, sand, marble dust, chalk, and binder, worked onto hessian stretched over upcycled picture frames. The resulting surfaces are rich with texture, echoing the threads and fabrics of his fashion heritage while inviting tactile engagement.

The exhibition features a series of abstract paintings alongside expressive drawings of faces, gestures, and outdoor spaces. Through these works, Emilio investigates the layered nature of personal and collective identity. The recurring use of reclaimed materials and textural impasto speaks to themes of transformation, sustainability, and the enduring resonance of memory.

Secreto Publico invites viewers to reflect on the ways in which our histories, spoken and unspoken, shape our sense of self and community. The interplay between abstraction and figuration, surface and depth, mirrors the complexities of desire and belonging at the heart of de la Morena’s practice.