CONTEMPORARY ART - EXHIBITIONS

The Loci of Painting


Beneath the Sui 1


Date
2016
Artist
Vicenç Viaplana




"A very primitive urge, between rage and demand, drives this series; one that was painted outdoors in the woods near the mountains of the Montseny massif. In this first artwork in the series, some vegetation that is as lush as it is imaginary, seems to overflow beyond the edges of the painting. It is a close-up view of a convulsive collection of pieces of vegetation. A bright, almost hallucinogenic, green reinforces the sense of explosion, a wild burst of life. I was not thinking about anything when, facing the blank canvas, I started to paint. I kept going as the wind blew leaves and twigs onto the wet paint. One work of art led on to another without me even realizing it. I had no need to think. In fact, quite the opposite occurred once the brushstrokes were flowing, as if they were in a blazing dialogue between the forest surrounding me and the turbulent political reality of those months. Was that an instinctive, primal and vital response to the political circumstances we were experiencing those years? Was it a way of defending the country, freedom and life that was in such turmoil and constant transformation in the face of such obscurantism? Can a work of art with images of vegetation express a message of defiance? I do not know; perhaps not. Maybe it is nothing more than an illusion. But these are my tools. And I would not understand the work nor my profession in any other way". Vicenç Viaplana