To understand Niels Reyes Cadalso as an artist it is necessary to abstract a little, to leave behind the preconceived ways of thinking and make way for a logic marked by feeling and the multiple truths that coexist in a given truth.
Niels Reyes has traveled a lot around the world and as a result his art has been influenced by different cultures, but before, long before, when he was still a student at the University of the Arts, he had already shown interest in portraiture, in depicting faces, in making more exciting the fact of leaving a portion of himself in the mind of others, since his works are not so easily forgotten. This way of painting the eyes leaves an intense mark on tomorrow.
Untitled is a work from the catalog of Máxima Estudio-Taller made in oil on canvas in 2017, with 180 x 100 cm in dimension. A challenging figure for the human intellect because of its morphology, due to the fact that at first glance it is difficult to identify its gender. His eyebrows are thinned, short hair, slender neck, prominent lips, blushing cheekbones and nose, everything points to a woman, but the doubt still underlies if it really is.
With Niels Reyes, the capacity for astonishment persists, it underlies his pieces like a magnet that immediately leads you to analysis, to make judgments, in other words: the spectator, the critic, the gallery owner, the businessman find that something else that complements their notion of art, a pictorial alternative that arrives like the drop of water that was missing in a glass of knowledge.
It is not the same to see the work we are analyzing through an image than to have it in front of us, it is necessary to go to Máxima, to ask about it, to go through it with our own eyes. Once in front of the painting you can appreciate its shape (rectangular) and something else: the layers resulting from the creative process that give it volume, liveliness and originality.
On previous occasions we have talked about Niels' technique with respect to the naturalness of the eyes he conceives. Now, we will examine another effect of this visual resource used in his work. When approaching the piece, one perceives little by little the tonalities, the possible combinations of colors, the man (spectator) believes he is unraveling the creator and his secrets. Thus he leaves pleased and with a handful of truth in his hand. But as he walks away the questions begin again, don't those eyes look like they do up close, has their anatomy changed, their brightness is different, and such judgments are not wrong.
Niels produces an optical illusion: the visual results are different near and far from the work, a technique he has perfected and of which he can be considered a virtuoso. He is still a young artist, with exhibitions and series to paint, so there will be many tempting glances, dissimilar fabulous portraits, to continue dreaming in the universe where everything becomes possible, thanks to art.