Hector
My exhibition explores the idea of individuals' perception of the elements which surround us, while evoking various symbolism and significance. Inspired by both the natural and industrial world, my artworks reflect elements of our everyday life, mixing colors to create symbiosis and links. I first started my art projects to show to others and myself my progression, as well as how abstraction has always been an appealing art movement, inspiring still today. My most important piece is Iri’s Skull, a true midway point in all my artworks, and the largest one I had tackled since the start of DP Year 1. Its usage of colors, visual key aspects and true reflection of my own personal art style makes it a truly important piece in my exhibition. Jean Cocteau portraits served as powerful inspiration in the making of the simplistic face. From its creation I gained confidence in my art creation, and took it upon myself to go even bigger than before, leading to the creation of a El Littinsky Russian Constructivism inspired artwork, one of great importance too as it holds true to my vision and ideas, Absolutism. Absolutism kept many of the color theories from my previous artworks, and pushed all elements further as shapes took angular forms and colors both dimmed and light up ; a circle at its core symbolized the inspiration and wings I had gained from the creation of my previous tondo (round) artworks. Another important artwork was the creation of Summit, which mixed a new way to paint, much more raw and in tune with my visions, drawn to the methods of Cy Twombly.
My work first started quite bland, but grew proportionally in time with my confidence, as I learned and explored my works gained colors, lines and life. Wanting to challenge myself, I began working with tondo formats, and from smaller to much bigger artworks, continuously pushing myself harder by taking on new shapes such as pillars and torsos. While at first shy to work with my hands, it rapidly became my greatest tool in all my work creation. I began three dimensional exploration for works late into my exhibition, yet there I found myself free to do much more than on flat surfaces, walking around my works and changing viewpoints constantly.
My exhibition set up relies mainly on one concept, that of free space. Rather than closing in on the observer, I opted to invite them, separating my pillars much like a gateway, a door to enter and exit through, or interact with. Creating a space one wouldn’t simply take steps back from, but rather discover by walking and observing themselves, guided by the harmony which surfaces from how my artworks are layed. The pillars also serve as a bridge between my works, connecting to one central wall, towards my greatest artwork Iri’s Skull, the piece which birthed many others. Placing it in the center of the exhibition was a way to reference back to this idea of midway point. Contrasting its abstract and simple form, my largest painting Absolutism stands alone, a piece different from the others but created from their inspiration, explaining why the pillars connect it back to my other pieces. Isolating my first tondo artwork in a corner allows me to show how I was unsure of the piece itself, but from it bloomed the ideas behind the creation of Iri’s Skull, which is why it physically opposes the piece. Surrounding Iri’s Skull are my first works, the ones that lead up to all the inspiration and ideas allowing me to make my greatest artwork. Lastly, the most human element Transcended Muse’s torso stands facing Iri’s Skull, a piece also different from others due to its three dimensional properties, but still drawn from the abstraction and colors theories of other pieces, a human piece in an abstract exhibition should be isolated.
I want the audience to discover my works, not simply view and interpret them but imagine, sense them. My exhibition is my own vision of the world’s elements, my making of them in my image, my eyes. I hope that the audience can ask themselves how they see it all, how they too vision things differently from others.
My Tree (March 2023)
Acrylic
43 cm x 31 cm
My Tree is an abstract painting, showing the absolute darkness, the absence of colour to present its omnipresence, contrasted with the three colours from which everything is drawn in turn symbolising everything. The colours themselves appear in a tree-like formation, with blue roots and red trunks, intertwined. It shows us, humanity binding itself against the great void that is absence of colour, but also more simply absence itself. A leaf grows from this union, green to represent the tendency of nature to make elements green.
