RETHINKING TAMAYO

Rufino Tamayo's "Sandias" Series feel incredibly contemporary to me. Especially the paintings where he plays with abstract compositions, only being concerned with texture, color and shapes. They remind me of Paul Thiebaud with his slices of cake, counting and recounting seemingly the same shapes while placing them into slightly different circumstances.

In my own practice I also try to merge abstraction with figuration, being concerned with shapes, time and space, texture, color, plasticity and emotion. If you look up my EXTINCT SERIES you will know what I mean. Even my "heads" and "faces" and "valentines" are just archetypes. I am simplifying the forms and shapes in order to make the color and texture sing, evoking a certain emotion.

That is why I am drawn to Tamayo's paintings of watermelons. Here at La Sur I intend to explore his process, either through mimicry or just play. We will see what happens. I can tell you one thing - I never used that much color red in my paintings before. It's kind of liberating.