Artist: Pedro Paricio
When: Sat, 02/11/2013 – Sun, 03/11/2013
Venue: Web Access Only
The OPEN STUDIOS WEEKEND is a chance to see dynamic Spanish artists based in London. Since its origins in 2009, Spain NOW!’s mission has been to promote contemporary Spanish art in London: this new initiative is one further step to highlighting important emerging artists and to making their presence known both at national and international levels.
The Casino de la Exposicion houses the first exhibition of the artist in a Spanish public space until the 24th of June.
‘The theatre of Painting’, commissioned by Juan Manuel Bonet, summarizes the pictorial development of the Canarian artist Pedro Paricio who arrives at Seville in the hands of ICAS.
“MY PAINTINGS ARE AS IF YOU SAW A PLAY IN ONE SECOND” by Nieves G. Grosso. Seville. Spain
“You have to create the occasion, not wait for it”, this is what Francis Bacon said, and is without any doubt applicable to Pedro Paricio. This Canarian painter in his thirties arrives at the Casino de la Exposicion from the Halcyon Gallery (London), with The Theatre of Painting in which Juan Manuel Bonet, commissioned of the exhibition, brings us a “summary” about what the work of one of the most renowned young artists in this moment has been and is.
INTERVIEW TO PEDRO PARICIO 26th May 2012
In more than one occasion, you have been asked about your style and you always define it as painting, why do not you define more specifically?
I think that it is difficult to define this style of painting in a concrete or closed way. What I develop is a kind of work that is difficult to define in something concrete. That is to say, the colours that I use and the way in which I build the image, we could say that this is Pop. But my work does not have to do anything with what Pop movement was. I could also say that it is Classical or Baroque painting, because it is important the gesture, or even Renaissance painting…Then, I think that the best thing is to say that is
painting that, at the end, is what it is.
Could we say then that it is an open style?
Today it is very difficult to separate between abstract from figurative. I think that what nowadays painters do, is painting. And their work uses more a figurative or abstract trend depending on the moment. In my painting everything is mixed at the same time, what is its own strength. I have gotten to develop a work which has its own essence, which is not classed. That also gives me more space in order not to be restricted.
How is the process of creating your paintings?
I usually have a kind of image in my head. But when I face the blank canvas, because I do not use previous sketches, I see how the colours react on the canvas and I change depending on what I develop in the painting. This is due to the fact that I think that it is important, when you create something, to have the ability to update your own reaction to it and listen to what you do.
And for this reason, how do you know that the painting is finished?
That is a feeling. I am painting and there is a moment in which I feel like jumping and dancing. I look at it and it is an inexplicable feeling. There are times that I compare it with someone who is running a marathon and he finally wins. There are easier paintings but there are others in which what I had thought does not answer with what I would like, and you start feeling defeated by the painting but you continue and in a moment the feeling of looking at it arrives and you say: “I get it”, and you go home, defeated but happy.
The colour is a constant and a main part of your painting. What importance does it have?
I think that this has to do with my origin. The fact of being Canarian gives you a peculiar feeling of colour and space. In Tenerife, the brightness is stronger, the brightness of the light and the reflex in the objects are much more powerful. I also think that it is a way of understanding life. I always try to smile to my problems. When I was a child my father said that I always see the positive side of everything.
The theatre of the painting, the exhibition that you bring to Seville, is a summary of works from the last decade. Which is the common thread?
The common thread is painting. Many people look for what they think that it is a change but there has always been a figurative abstraction in my paintings because I finished building a kind of object. For me, there has been a change towards narration. It is not about a narration that needs an explanation. You have to feel the paintings and not to give a scientific explanation. For that reason, you can play a symbolic analysis game, about the character…I think that it is as if you saw a play in one second.
What do you think about being 30 years old and having a retrospective of his work?
More than a retrospective, my work is presented. Mainly the works that are presented are an exhibition of what I am doing now. It was decided to show a ten per cent in a room in order for people to see a bit of how I have arrived here, how my work has evolved.
How do you become one of the most renowned artists from being a Fine Arts student?
It is difficult to answer because if I said that it is because I must have something that allows it to me, people can think that I am an arrogant person. I think that the main fact is to believe. You have to know until where you are ready to reach, in a sense of effort and sacrifice. Painting is a risk and you have to believe a lot in what you do and you have to believe in yourself. The people who really believe, finally get it.
Apart from painting, you write. Are texts to support your painting?
I am always writing but my writings are not about my paintings. The most important thing of my painting is that people look at them, I think that my paintings have to justify themselves if they are good enough, I do not need to explain why I have done it. But it is important to place yourself. Maybe I do not explain you the painting but if you know me and my influences, my vision of art, it would be easier to understand the painting.
Does receiving good critics from renowned people in the world of art mean that you are in the good way?
It helps. Collective faith is bigger than the individual one. I believe in my work but when people who have reputation support you or believe in what you do that makes you think that you are doing something well. That reaffirms you.
