Friday, 28 September 2018


     Past Continuous
     The exhibition closed last Sunday September 23 and its author is a Sevillian artist who lives and works in London, which I would like you to take a look at. For now, I send you some of my impressions.

     He has exhibited in an empty house but still retains the traces of the people who lived there: marks of the paintings on the wallpaper of the walls, the smoked corner where the TV was, chipping produced by uncontrolled dragging of some furniture and even scribbles drawn by an incipient family artist. According to Francesco Paolo Del Re,

«a place rich in marks and memories, showing scars and footprints belonging to the old owners who no longer live in the house»

     Alberto Torres Hernández, that is his name, is a young man (33) who paints some paintings like those that appear in documentaries dedicated to heroes or famous people, but which in his case are known or friends of the painter who end up looking like gods lying down or resting.

«His paintings are portraits of young men and women; they are mostly close-ups of figures often lying down, resting their heads on a pillow, painted against a neutral background, or nudes surrounded by sparse interior»

     The first thing that caught my attention was the sheets, yes, sheets. They are lying as if they had been washed and exposed to the sun that enters through the window. This is what I did in the house of my first lady. With soap and hot water we washed the sheets and spread them inside the stone corridor when it was raining outside. Linen sheets in summer, flannel sheets in winter. Those that covered the bed had some embroidery on the upper part at chest height. Alberto has embroidered, with black thread, the figure of an artist painting his model. This installation - I think they call these things - has returned me for a moment to Mr Graham's house.

«Alberto´s past continuous is a metaphor of his painting practice which aims to reflect on our relationship with those who are dear to us, travel mates which we share a piece of life with, whether for a moment or eternity»

     Dear Fran, I've talked about this artist to Godoy (in a few days he travels to Poland) and he told me that he has known him for a few years and that he continues his career; even that he was in Gijón in an exhibition he did four or five years ago. He loves it. That he would like to buy a painting, but for now he is satisfied seeing them online. I, I tell you, would buy me a little one who has painted some leaves and a book next to a window.
     Here is the link

     Y. a.
     Mary

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