For years, I worked as an architect in France and United States. More often than not, what is in the architectural renderings is not what ends up to be built. Whether or not they accurately depict a finished building, those drawings, paintings or three-dimensional models are loaded with the power of intention and driven by unchained imagination, they sometimes are true works of art! Imagine then the pain of, say, a sculptor, to see his finished sculpture slowly dismembered for the sake of budgeting or function.

I was yearning for more creative freedom. Resisting the constant request for concession, compromise and alignment, in 2000 I took an extended sabbatical for the full-time exploration of professional fine artistry. The roads are many, and demand only to be explored; passion and hard work continuously shape the artist.

In a nutshell, what I paint is the space (air, energy...) created by, and evolving between, built entities. Be it still, vibrating or flowing, it envelops the three-dimensional solids that define it (walls, towers, complex urban scene) and inevitably generates a mood. As an artist I play with colors, mediums and textures, while as a trained architect I explore, virtually without limitations, the impact of the built environment on our psyche. Through volumes, color and spaces, depths, scale and perspective, my hope is to signal the power of our surroundings and hopefully raise expectations. We are shaped by them as much as we shape them.

I believe that landscapes, cityscapes, exteriors and interiors should all be painted, not photographed, because the camera captures only one point of view. Our brain, on the other hand, constantly interprets and creates a much more complex reality. In that, I recognize similarities with the Cubist movement, more in the key concept (the essence of objects can only be captured by showing it from multiple points of view simultaneously) than in the method: the Cubist style emphasized the flat, two-dimensional surface of the picture plane, rejecting the traditional techniques of perspective, modeling, and chiaroscuro; I use all these techniques. Also, color supposedly interfered with purely intellectual perception of the form so the Cubist palette was restricted to an almost monochromatic scale, dominated by grays; I, for one, welcome color.

I begin with a concept, which develops through the painting process. Interpretations of the initial idea evolve, departing from external appearances to concentrate on partially abstracted forms. Constructivist at root, I add layers of dark glaze, resembling industrial grime or the accumulation of organic and mineral matter, suggesting the passage of time. Depth, perspectives and extensions alter and deepen with each layer applied to the surface. The intended effect is a contradiction where the viewer is given a hint of vast spaces in the painting's foundation, but with interrogation on whether these could possibly be inhabitable spaces. Still, with their labyrinthic presence, these paintings always offer the possibility of eventually evolving, through windows, intriguing gates or mysterious tunnels, into more familiar and welcoming alternative spaces.

I envision assembling most of the elements of my series Spaces together, merging into some unified structure or environment - large paintings or mosaic-style arrangements of smaller ones that, together, envelop the visitor of the exhibition providing one perspective of the same imaginary city, with so many points of view and a three-dimensional horizon… A true Labyrinth, similar to Life.


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