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Manuel Luca de Tena
(Madrid, 1954)
Rojo I
1992
mixed media on canvas
200 x 114 cm
Inv. no. 4128
BBVA Collection Spain
In the 1980s, Luca de Tena spent six years in Tokyo. Since then, his work has been undergirded by an aesthetic that draws from Eastern tradition. In spite of his apparent isolation, the painterly surface of
Rojo I
shows a definitely
all-over
painting technique consisting in covering the whole surface of a painting with one single treatment, so as to create a sense of overall uniformity without any single or dominant point of view.
treatment with clear echoes of
Abstract Expressionism
This contemporary painting movement emerged within the field of abstraction in the 1940s in the United States, from where it spread worldwide. Rooted in similar premises and postulates as Surrealism, the Abstract Expressionist artists regarded the act of painting as a spontaneous and unconscious activity, a dynamic bodily action divested of any kind of prior planning. The works belonging to this movement are defined by the use of pure, vibrant primary colours that convey a profound sense of freedom. The movement’s main pioneers were, among others, Arshile Gorky (1904-1948) and Hans Hoffman (1880-1966). Leading Spanish exponents of the movement are Esteban Vicente (1903-2001) and José Guerrero (1914-1991), who lived for some time in New York City, where they were in first-hand contact with the many artistic innovations taking place there around that time.
. The practice he developed after that and his current work is closer to figuration, but always maintaining a splattering effect that provides a sense of overall unity.
The artist attains a texture and a highly elegant chromatic effect through the superimposition of layers of paint. In this work, the surface of the dark background is dotted with flashes of light of varied intensity, coming from inside and creating an extremely subtle nebula effect. The uniformity of the canvas is broken by a fiery sparkle that reinforces the expressive load and acts as a visual support.
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