RF. Alvarez
Artifact of Some Small Forgotten Moment, 2020
Acrylic, natural earth pigment, pencil on canvas
36 x 34 in
91.4 x 86.4 cm
91.4 x 86.4 cm
I paint the things I cannot say. Painting is a meditative, reflective process, but I find the act of painting to be almost an excavation: a slow carving of understanding....
I paint the things I cannot say. Painting is a meditative, reflective process, but I find the act of painting to be almost an excavation: a slow carving of understanding. A year ago, my work focused on depictions of abstracted, anonymous figures in these Eden-like spaces: dreams of some alternate reality where bodies are confident and comfortable, heritages are blended, nature is lush and overgrown. These depictions were allegorical – mythical even – something to strive for, or perhaps hold our own reality up for juxtaposition. Look at the world we built, look how it’s not Eden.
I have, over the course of this pandemic, felt an emptying out. Streets emptied, calendars emptied, but so did these allegories I painted. They felt so distant, so intangible, that it almost made no sense to continue painting them. Confronting the world with what it is becomes more important than showing what it is not. These works represent a sampling of that sea-change, how a pandemic affects a studio practice. I’ve moved away from allegory, turned the lens onto the room I dream in rather than the dream itself. What dreams I do paint are distant now, faded, almost coming undone the longer time passes...
I have, over the course of this pandemic, felt an emptying out. Streets emptied, calendars emptied, but so did these allegories I painted. They felt so distant, so intangible, that it almost made no sense to continue painting them. Confronting the world with what it is becomes more important than showing what it is not. These works represent a sampling of that sea-change, how a pandemic affects a studio practice. I’ve moved away from allegory, turned the lens onto the room I dream in rather than the dream itself. What dreams I do paint are distant now, faded, almost coming undone the longer time passes...
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