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AFTERGLOW
30 Jun - 31 Jul
AFTERGLOW
30JUN / 31JUL · 2023
AFTERGLOW
Daniel Núñez
“AFTERGLOW is an ode to the radiance that an uncluttered mind can lead to. The exhibition offers a highly nuanced account of the various states of consciousness through which Daniel Núñez transits in his process until he reaches the impetus to create. These experiences are not described as mere passive records, but as specific fantastic universes, which are in turn active components of the artist’s own identity.
Daniel takes as his starting point the urban environment, where mental noise and inner turmoil often abound, and reformulates it in versions derived from a language of his own, closer to the sublime and musical rather than the concrete and conclusive.
The artist devours visual information and its contradictions, both literal and subjective, and brings them to the canvas as part of a transformative process. The effect is a continuous influx of ideas. This creative profusion triggers a constant search for evolution in the artist’s own expression, which in turn demands an encounter with new formulas and techniques.
Núñez makes certain formal decisions to mark a specific rhythm, to introduce us to an imaginary, or perhaps to offer us a reading guide by simulating the direction within the exhibition space. The small formats provide breadth and oxygen, while the large ones concentrate the potential information backed by a greater plastic richness. The artist seeks to compose a harmonious flow in which to feel absolute peace amidst the noise, transforming the remnants of the mundane through artistic practice to connect with the sublime.
Drawings are a constant practice from which Daniel extracts abundant information, in which he makes colour tests, shapes ideas and resolves compositions. These drawings are a fundamental part of the author’s discipline, as they generate ideas that are later consolidated and resolved during the process of creating large-scale works. At the same time, the titles of the works give winks, suggesting a wealth of references, most of the time offering keys to the reading of the works.
In his works, Núñez confronts his protagonic and antagonistic self in an eternal constructing and deconstructing that shapes his own identity. He transforms sensations into gestures,experiences into painting. In this transfer from the outside world to the canvas, the energetic and spontaneous brushstrokes of colour become the source from which figurative elements emerge intuitively, as if suggested by stains. Chance and the artist’s subconscious mood play a decisive role in the result.
This exhibition marks a new stage in Núñez’s artistic career in which abstraction is particularly prominent. The watery backgrounds reveal the raw spaces of the canvas, which allows us to assume that the artist seeks to approach the composition of each work with greater spatial care in order to enhance the most elemental figures. It is a consciously made work, without leaving aside the spontaneity that characterises his process. The artist’s maturity translates into a greater pictorial quality of the works and a subliminal depth of substance.
Although it is recognisable that Daniel Núñez shares principles with his romantic and fauvist predecessors, he proposes a new twist. He breaks with the established to construct a vision of his own. His work reflects a contemporary and very personal vision of the spiritual which, although it does not define his work, has a great influence on it.
Daniella Rangel G.
