The war according to Miralda “The utter boredom I felt during military service”

Miralda started drawing his first soldiers during the period of compulsory military service from 1962 to 1966. He was making drawings of soldiers in their habitual positions: sitting, standing, stretched out, standing at attention or ease. Pas mal (1965), Pas mal du tout (1965), Así atacaré, así defenderé (1965) and Lo llevaré siempre puesto (1965), are drawings and collages on the subject of the military that precede the series Soldats Soldés. As the artist said in an interview at MACBA: ‘They were purely autobiographical, based on the utter boredom I felt during military service.’ Miralda plays with the shooting range and false perspectives. Some of the works symbolise specific events, such as the Vietnam War in Así atacaré, así defenderé, or the absurdity of war in Pas mal and Pas mal du tout. With a subtle irony he reduces the military institution and the power of the State to the absurd and in this way expresses a critical attitude very much in line with the protest movements that emerged all over Europe during and after 1968.