To speak of the artist Juan Suarez Blanco is almost a titanic task, if we understand that he is one of the most prestigious creators in the here and now in Cuba, specifically in the westernmost of the provinces, Pinar del Rio, where the seed of art trapped him forever.
"I don't think I'm exaggerating if I say that, where he currently lives and works, or in the national context of the plastic arts where he has already had a consolidated place for a few years, there is another artist who can match him in terms of the refinement and meticulousness with which he is capable of subordinating diverse materials to his works and the ideas they represent," assures art critic David Mateo in his words from the Contemporary Art catalog, produced by Julisa & Diamont Fine Arts, Miami (2005).
Most of his works could be considered as abstract art in its most generic sense. However, when we stop at them and take as an example the case of La colina herida (The Wounded Hill), we observe a different essence marked by real experiences, which penetrate the eyes of third parties with extraordinary force.
The Wounded Hill takes us back to one of Havana's most painful natural disasters in 2019, with a tornado passing through several areas of the capital months ago. The creator dusts those memories with tenderness, pictorial exquisiteness and smell to touch us a neuralgic point of the feelings, but without melodramas. Rather, he achieves visual empathy through gentle colors. As contradictory as it may seem, the work is serene, calms the mind, dominates the senses by its simplicity. That is the key to its success: the simplicity and security of its work.
Through diverse tonalities, the piece presents a Juan Suarez Blanco who knows the social ethos. The surprising thing is to see the mastery with which he degrades the colors, chosen to foresee beforehand that it is an experience with marked doses of reality, pain, without even knowing the name of the painting. As by osmosis the inteciones are perceived.
In his works we can see the immense desire to create without brakes, without fears, without the ostracism that leads to getting used to the same canon, to the same technique. The artist always surprises and renews himself.
One of his many works found in Maxima is called Erosion II, II and IV, which formed part of the first exhibition of the Gallery-Studio, Lights. In them Suarez Blanco conjugates materials, experiments and achieves an intriguing morphological turn, since he imprints an uncommon life to the paintings to take us to a final result: the "erosion" seen from the art, in an unconventional way.
Luna, on the other hand, comes with other feelings, other aesthetics and desires. Although the earth's only natural satellite has become a pretext for the muses, Juan Suárez Blanco is not looking for a sophisticated way to recreate it, rather his figuration is very similar to the one we see from this side of the world.
With another aesthetic, the pieces Huella 5 and Nube Blanca arrive, where red dominates the full view. Unusual landscapes indicate a different abstraction, somewhat challenging if one understands that mixing colors, giving sense, logic, appearance and personality requires character, technique, skill and of course, talent. Abstract art can be more complex if it is not assumed from feeling.
At 66 years of age, recently turned 19 October, Juan Suarez Blanco advances without worries towards tomorrow. The road will be wide, he tells us, transforming, he will have adventures and combats because for him, art is one of the reasons why it is worth fighting in the world.
SEE ALL PIECES OF JUAN SUAREZ BLANCO
Publicado 4/11/2019