Abstract paintings
During these past few months I´ve been working on a new abstract art concept I name “Space Occupancies”. How did it start?…
I was having coffee in a terrace near MACBA (Barcelona´s modern art museum) and suddenly started watching a building in front of me that did not let me see what was behind it, though I could sense it by watching its surroundings. The more I looked, the more I wanted to see what was behind. But I couldn´t!!
I said to myself that the building was occupying a space that should have been empty before. Furthermore, I saw the building as a plane that was in front of another plane (other buildings), and this process repeated itself constantly wherever I looked.
Could I be able to synthesize these thoughts into words and abstract paintings? Did my thoughts have to do with the anxious intend of trying to figure out what is coming next?, or were they related to the act of asking questions to ourselves whose answers we are only able to sense?, or could it also be the ephemeral space occupancy of indivuals and objetcs in live?
From all these abstract thoughts and questions, I started drawing some sketches and watched attentive all around trying to find examples and answers.
I´ve found great inspirations in the works of some XXth century abstract artists as well as in modern and contemporary architecture. If you want to see some of these inspirations, check any of the past four articles called “About Abstract art: this week´s best inspirations” (I, II, III, IV).
The above and below abstract drawins and paintings provide a clear picture of the pictorial process I have followed so far. (Each piece has a number, which allows me to better understand the concept´s evolution).
Plane over plane, straight lines, geometry (squares and rectangles mainly), color, shadows, organic materials incorporated (burlap and fabrics manually sewed), and decomposition, are the main players. Hope you enjoy them.
To see the whole abstract painting series and how it is evolving check this link to Antonio Basso´s abstract paintings and enjoy the following pictures.
Thanks for reading. To see some other Antonio Basso´s space occupancies articles check here and add your thoughts below.
pd: should you need any further information, simply write a comment below and I´ll get back to you asap. And remenber you can also join yasoypintor on facebook.
July 26, 2012 - 7:13 pm
Hello Antonio
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with all of us.It interested me when you said that you were having a coffee in a terrace and suddenly started to appear all this questions about space and shapes. I was wondering myself if you moved your point of view and went to investigate what was happening behind those corners and straight lines. I need to know.
Thanks
July 26, 2012 - 7:23 pm
Hello Xavier,
I did not do what you ask. What I did was to focus my point of view on the front edges. What interests me is the point when and edge touches another edge (in the example I give is when a building wall just overlaps another wall from another building). I don´t know exactly why but I makes me think about Morandi´s still lives.
Please go ahead with your reflexion.
thanks for contributing.
Antonio
July 27, 2012 - 8:28 am
Morandi, who I love, is exactly who I thought of – the playing with positive and negative space, the tensions between the ‘edges’ of things. (Also Diebenkorn?)
Really liking this work, Antonio.
July 27, 2012 - 12:09 pm
Hello Glennie, your are absulutely right with Diebenkorn. Besides him, there´s another Spanish “master” named Manuel Millares. From him I take the use of organic fabrics (in my case organic cotton and burlap) that I incorporate to help me in the canvas. How to fushion both arts?.
The way Morandi integrates and sees what he paints, is simply trasncendent.
Thanks for commenting.
Regards.
Antonio Basso
July 27, 2012 - 6:49 am
Hello Antonio
I just asked to know if your interested point was related to the ideas of cubist artist. Their dinamics points of view around one shape made them experience another type of solution for their canvas.
Do you think your work is somehow related to the theories of Cezanne about spaces and shapes ?(when he was doing his “exercises” with an orange behind a bottle and he painted the orange like if the momento behind the bottle didn’t exist, like if he could “cut the time” for a second and then keep going, I mean painting what he knows and not what he sees).
Do you think “time” is an important aspect in your work?
Thanks
Xavier
http://www.xavieribas.com
July 27, 2012 - 12:23 pm
Hello Xavier,
thanks again for sharing your interesting thoughts. From your comments I was thinking about the following. Imagine a building viewed from the air (bird eyes). Now take the different planes of the bulding (walls, ceiling, floor …), and decompose them putting one over the other…. It makes sense, doesn´t it?
Time is important ´cose my paintings represent a given ephemeral moment in time. It´s like many architectural pictures I have shared in previous posts. Each one was made in a given moment, so in a way they interrupt time. They pause it. It´s thanks to time that the image exists, though it is ephemeral. It won´t exist any more (but thanks to photography we can capture that past moment)
Thanks again and let me tell you that I have to revise Cezzane´s theories to understand them better. Thanks for including them here.
Antonio
July 27, 2012 - 1:08 pm
Impresionante trabajo, Antonio. Me encanta ver el trabajo previo y el resultado final. Además, gracias a tus explicaciones, cobra todo mucho más sentido. Apetece tocar cada uno de los cuadros por la textura y los millones de colores que tienen. Parecen vivos. Me encantan. Síguenos explicando tu proceso creativo. Muchos ánimos y felicidades.
Germán Almendros
http://www.fincasalmendros.com
July 27, 2012 - 2:51 pm
Hola Antonio! Maravilloso trabajo! Muy interesante tanto el resultado estético como el proceso creativo.
Saludos!
Samanta
http://www.avanluce.com
July 27, 2012 - 7:50 pm
Hola Samanta, muchas gracias por compartir tu opinión. Saludos y muy buen verano. Antonio
July 27, 2012 - 9:20 pm
Im pre si o nan te
Has vuelto a tu niñez, me encanta como juegas con las formas colores…..
Sigue trabajando asi y seguro que recogeras muchos premios y reconocimientos
Besos y feliz verano
July 28, 2012 - 12:50 am
Hola Borja. Lo has visto bien. Me encantaría volver a mi niñez para ser capaz de mirar desde ahí. Gracais por opinar y un beso. Antonio
July 28, 2012 - 6:51 am
No se porqué…..el espacio n 15 me sugiere un “diván”. Me gusta mucho ver que los “nudos” evolucionan. Texturas y colores muy transformados. Me gusta mucho su forma de hacer “hablar” a los colores. Buen Verano y felicidades por su “terquedad” vocacional!!!. Un abrazo. Silvia T
July 30, 2012 - 9:44 am
Alucinante, enhorabuena, tanto por cómo llegas a la idea como por supuesto en la ejecución!
No dejes de crear!
July 30, 2012 - 4:10 pm
Muchas gracias por compartir tu opinión Carlos. Un saludo. Antonio
August 1, 2012 - 9:08 am
Impresionante…felicidades! súper interesante, ya le estoy buscando sitio a una de las obras de tu nueva serie…
Toni
August 1, 2012 - 11:24 am
hola Toni. Al final tendrás que cambiarte de casa pues te quedarás sin paredes suficientes :). Gracias por opinar aquí. Fuerte abrazo. Antonio
August 1, 2012 - 11:32 am
Hello Antonio!
I am not a painting expert, otherwise I would comment every post you publish.
But this one is different, it’s about your work.
I cannot talk about techniques, praxis, textures, aesthetics or similar. But I can talk about wich one of these works inspires me.
My favourites are Occupancy 4 and 16. The first because I love the way orange suits with the blues. It’s a nice sensation.
The second one remind me the quietness of my neighbourhood in midnight. A sensation of calm and peace.
They are really wonderful. I’m not just being polite. Congratulations!
Héctor M
August 1, 2012 - 2:51 pm
Hello Héctor, somes times it’s more difficult to express with words your sensations and emotions about an art piece than to do it with technicisms.Thanks for adding your preferences and thoughts. Best regards. Antonio Basso
September 17, 2012 - 6:52 am
[…] the process of one of my latest abstract paintings that belongs to the series Space Occupancies (find more info about the origen of this abstract series in this past article) The photo that started it all […]
May 3, 2013 - 8:00 am
[…] my previous Space Occupancies abstract paintings, geometry together with matter and space where the main characters […]