Vicenc Viaplana | Granollers (Barcelona)

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untitled, 1989
acrylic paint, oil on canvas, 300.5x200cm

This artwork is truly an artwork to be experienced rather than viewed. Its sheer size (three metres in height!) towers over us. It requires tremendous technical ability to create a meticulous painting on such scale. Remnants of a structure give way to a wonderous golden glow. The chiaroscuro ambiance is so subtle that it is hardly perceivable; only comparable to the upcoming dawn which follows the nocturnal mood. The transcendental ambiance that radiates from the painting towards the observer is overwhelming and we can only be deeply absorbed by it. The small light torch is standing vulnerably. As we stand in front of the vast space the torch compels us connect with it.

Synopsis

About the artist (1955)

Vicenç Viaplana creates surreal environments that balance between recognisable and abstract imagery. While paintings of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s feature...

About the artist (1955)

Vicenç Viaplana creates surreal environments that balance between recognisable and abstract imagery. While paintings of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s feature painted light torches, currently, Viaplana uses photography as a vehicle to create near abstract, melancholic, painted stills.

In the light torch series the artist stained large canvases in refined tonal variations that ooze into each other, creating textured, luminous surfaces. The diffusion of light generates a subtle atmosphere that is made up of thousands of tiny vibrating particles; as if an alchemistic process is taking place. Faint structures are engulfed and replaced by the light. The emptiness of the spaces is intensified by the sole placements of finely painted torches.

Contrasting the fields of light, in some instances, Viaplana painted monochrome colour blocks. These additions place the artwork in a contemporary framework.

http://www.viaplana.net