Mapanare.us Constantly.Consuming.Culture.
  • Art
  • Interviews

Teo Gonzalez, From Spain And Residing In Brooklyn Showing Work At Miami Project 2013 Via Brian Gross Fine Art

11/27/2013

0 Comments

 
PictureUntitled #651
Teo Gonzalez, from Spain currently living in Brooklyn, is an artist who produces wonderful, provocative non-representational pieces. They are also pieces that, even more than is the norm do not seem to translate from reality into a photo and onto a website. His work is compelling on the page or online but it is much more so in person. He is showing work at Miami Project (December 3 to 8, 2013) via Brian Gross Fine Art at Miami Project (Booth 803).

How does an artist deal with this in an age where so much art is seen online?  Gonzalez just does his work and doesn’t worry about it.

“That is the nature of the work. I could always have done a type of work that looked great in photographs, but ultimately what is important is that you are true to yourself so that your work ends up in the hands of someone who will appreciate it, which pretty much means someone who will not rule it out based on an image of it,” he says. “So, yes, making shows is very important to me, but they are very important to every other visual artist because all of us need our work to be seen in person to really be appreciated.”

Gonzalez is correct that any art needs to be seen in person to be truly appreciated.  But, nonetheless, art enthusiasts and collectors should make sure to see his work in person. The depth of his work and its appeal truly need to be seen in person. You can get an idea and feel via photos and the artist’s description but be sure to see these pieces.  He uses canvas on board for his latest pieces—which are informed in part by his background in drawing.

“I use acrylic paint because it dries quickly. My work has a lot to do with drawing, and acrylic paint feels as immediate as a pencil to me.  The canvas over board arrangement started because I was placing thousands and thousands of drops of diluted acrylic enamel on my paintings,” he says. “And I needed a surface that I could set horizontally and would not bow down so that those drops would dry without running into each other.  A board under the canvas seemed to be the way to go.”  

Picture
King Ashurbanipal (study 3)
What does the artist want, the viewer, the prospective collector, to take from his work?

“I think of a my work as a vehicle to communicate something that can only be expressed with images --in the same way that writing uses words or music uses sound. Therefore, the message in my paintings can't be put into words,” Gonzalez says. “But it can be understood and felt. What I want people to understand o feel when they see them is the same as I do. I hope that my work is intriguing to viewers and that it somehow compels them to look at it again.”

Gonzalez’ earlier work was, in some respects, self-referential. These days he moves beyond himself in what he creates.

“I started doing this work to get away from what I was doing before.  I needed to put some distance between my work and myself, and I wanted to do a type of work that wasn't a reflection of me, my ideas, likes or dislikes.  Looking for ways to avoid those issues, I started to work with geometry and later with naturally occurring events,” he says. “I appreciated very much how impersonal both could be, how they could emphasize reason rather emotion and yet make an impact at a human level. A little while later they fused into the drop work and the rest has been its evolution.  With respect to my influences, first and foremost is my teacher in Spain, Jordi Teixidor, who taught me to understand what I was doing.  Among the --let's call them-- classic artists, I was very impressed by Ad Reinhardt. I loved his endurance and tenacity to take things wherever they had to be.”

This year Gonzalez is bringing pieces from his last series—images with a lot of contrast between background and foreground. He is one of a number of artists being shown by Brian Gross Fine Art.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Interviews
    This section is interviews with artists, musicians, writers and anyone else we think is interesting.

    Categories

    All
    Art
    Art Basel 2012 Previews
    Art Basel 2015 Previews
    Art Basel 2016 Previews
    Art Miami
    Art Week Miami 2013
    Art Week Miami 2014 Previews
    Books
    Design
    Films
    Graphic Novels
    Interviews
    Miami Art Week 2017
    Miami Art Week 2018
    Miami Art Week 2021
    Miami Art Week 2022
    Music
    PFAF 2019
    Photography
    Previews
    Superfine!

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    November 2022
    November 2021
    November 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    March 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    April 2010