The day announces itself calm, the sunset begins to combine its usual colors, the night advances slowly, when something strange begins to brew. Too much peace, too much order and serenity to be Havana.
Suddenly things make sense, an animal invades the space of La Cabaña, the impenetrable building, the shield construction of the corsairs and pirates along with the Morro, the legendary architecture this time was injected by the creative force of the artist Douglas Pérez Castro. Before that scenario places us the painter with his work Picazzo (2019, 155 x 155 cm) made in oil on canvas, a piece of the Pictopia series that is part of the collection of Máxima gallery.
On a visual level it is an imposing painting, not only for its size, but for its figuration itself that speaks to us of a fictitious Havana, somewhat futuristic if you will, a blue city as it is at the moment, but that allows the arrival of an agent alien to its landscapes. There is no sign of struggle, of any alteration, the action of the canvas takes place in peace.
There is also no trace of human life, so the fact is reduced to a minimal contact between urbanism and the insect, which may well be made with technology or perhaps it is a simple "Picazzo" that grew to intimidate us.
The buildings occupy a minor plane except for the esplanade where the adventure takes place. The buildings are visualized as distant, accessible, a city worth touring. It is as if a photograph of the moment had been taken from a close-up shot to recreate the animal in detail. What is interesting is what underlies the capital's maritime background. It looks like another city living on its own, but in connection with the surface, a deeper and simpler scenery that sustains and balances the splendor of what is shown. A reflection of the exterior, similar poles that meet each other thanks to the water and its linking power.
If we look for another interpretation of the matter, the painting lands us in the Bay of Havana, almost "virgin" in its depths, because although sanitation techniques have been applied to its waters, in addition to several archaeological incursions, it still remains secret part of its mysteries.
Douglas Perez Castro returns to disturb us with graphic gestures, he uses Havana as a context to unleash his creative force and make us think, hallucinate if necessary, he invites us to know his creative pulse, but above all the artist activates zones of knowledge, which these days of forty come as a ring to the finger before the possible ostracism of the home routine.
Published 7/05/2020