Inauguration of Abel Florido (17th June 2016)
We close our 30th season with Abel Florido. He had already exhibited at the Rusiñol Gallery along with a collective exhibition one and a half year ago. Today he is exhibiting individually with us for the first time. “City in black and white” describes very well the topic of this work: the city is Barcelona, but with a very original view…
“Black and white” characterizes the scenes. These are emblematic images of the city, drawn in its pure quotidian life: in black & white! But the scenes are peppered with spots of vivid colors (red, yellow and blue). Traffic light, taxis, urban buses… are the occasion for integrating this colored points within the general panorama of the quotidianity of black & white.
Mr. Joseph M. Cadena highlights the feeling of dynamism in the paintings of this artist. By using black & white it seems that Abel is taking photos of singular places of Barcelona: the Vinçon Galleries, the Casa de les Punxes… But they are neither photos nor static scenes, because there we can see movement, dynamism: for instance, the taxi that is running, the people who are walking up and down… They are paintings that represent life: specifically, the quotidian life of the city.
«Abel Florido (Barcelona, 1963) belongs to a new generation of Barcelona’s painters. Through a spontaneous but sure strokes and using dynamic frameworks, this painter produces a fresh and direct view over the main streets of the Catalan capital and its citizens. The Ramblas and the emblematic Café de la Ópera, the Diagonal street and the House of the Punxes, Paseo de Gracia and the Pedrera building, and other urban elements (like yellow & black taxis; the entrances of the undergrown) appear represented so successfully that they allow us to feel immersed in the middle of the urban jungle» (from the writings of Josep M. Cadena).
In the interview “4 notes about… Abel Florido”, the painter tells us how his style emerged: «My painting style is a kind of neo pop-art. This is an invention. Actually, I wanted to do something very different… But I experienced an unexpected change: it was in summer and I was taking a nap; when I woke up I decided to paint persons in black & white. Then I went to my studio and I did that! I understood at that time that it was necessary to add a color: red, basically, and also yellow and blue».
Some questions. —You are living in the middle of nature, in Berga, but you are painting the city. Why? —When I was living in Barcelona I was already painting. Although I am living away from the city, I remember it, and I am interested in the daily ambient within the city and, in fact, I go back frequently to Barcelona. —Why these “stains” of color in the middle of the black & white? —Sometimes I introduce color: I do this in order to set points of interest. Above all I put the red because this gives strength to the painting. The color helps to represent the activity! —The city appears as alive, how do you achieve that? —This is spontaneous! Sometimes the shadows help me: if you take away the shadows, then the paintings lose movement!
