Einladung zur Vernissage am Donnerstag, 07.11. ab 19:00 Uhr
– in Anwesenheit des Künstlers

Invitation to the opening of the exhibition, 07/11/ at 7pm
– the artist is present

FELIPE ALONSO | „FLIES IN THE SHADOW OF FLOWERS“

Einzelausstellung | Malerei | Ausstellung bis 05.12.2019
Solo Exhibition | Painting | Exhibition until 05/12/2019

 

Galerie flash proudly presents Spanish artist Felipe Alonso’s newest paintings in the Solo Exhibition „FLIES IN THE SHADOW OF FLOWERS“.

About Felipe Alonso (by Angel Alvarez de Benito)

It is said that the biggest challenge for an artist is to find his way, his own voice. At the beginning of the learning process, technical achievements and execution skills attract all the attention. Then comes the admiration for other artists, the imitation of style, the inspiration of the forerunners. But focussing just on technical dexterity is the mark of the impersonal. Felipe Alonso seems to have been very aware of that danger and has traveled his inner path, always plagued by uncertainties, advances, and setbacks, with the courage of a daring adventurer.

Born into a family of painters (his father, his grandfather and his great uncle were) he absorbed by osmosis the pictorial knowledge. His father preferred to step aside and encourage, probably with good judgment, an independent artistic training for Felipe Alonso. This is how he attended classes at the Peña Academy in Madrid under the direction of artist Jon Ander del Arco to prepare himself for admission to the Faculty of Fine Arts in Madrid. Felipe Alonso describes his passing through the Faculty as an insubstantial process: painting was not fashionable, relegated to post-modern and conceptual art, and he wanted to paint above all else. So he painted relentlessly in his studio, going to the faculty only to comply with the formalities and be able to attend the classes of pictorial materials and techniques and sculpture where he found a haven of academic training.

Felipe Alonso belongs to that class of hard-working, intelligent and courageous Galicians who have colonized half the world. Always restless, armed with an impeccable technique, he explores all the possibilities of the process and the pictorial expression. He says that painting requires “cooking” to find out that plastic essence that moves it away from the mere illustration. It is different to create images than create paintings.
Felipe Alonso subjects

For a long time, the main Felipe Alonso subjects have been the human figure and the portrait. There is no narrative thread in his work. Each new work has its own entity. Although he does not define himself as a religious man, his work transpires a deep interest in human beings and their existential anguish, their need for transcendent protection, the presence of the hidden and the shadow of death.
Felipe Alonso technique

Felipe Alonso’s technique combines a structured work method with inclusive creative freedom.

  • SKETCH
  • The first part is technical, rational and methodical. It begins with a digital sketch, where Felipe Alonso explores all the expressive possibilities of a certain image. He removes or adds elements, distorts the image, adds color planes and graphics until he gets a departure image that encourages him to develop it further on the canvas.
  • SUPPORT AND INFRA-PAINTING
  • Felipe Alonso usually paints on linen that he himself prepares and attach it to a board to allow him to perform all kinds of weird actions onto the painting; scraping, paint stripping, using blades, and spatulas. He always chooses a canvas size larger than expected from the intended image. He prefers not to have closed limits in case he decides to expand or extend the format of the support as the painting goes on.
  • The first layer is the infra-painting. It is the bed on which the surface paint will rest. But it’s not just about creating an aesthetically attractive substrate; the infra-painting created by Alonso is specific and meaningful. It is the precursor of the image. The mannequin on which the tailor-made suit will fit.
  • PAINTING
  • According to Felipe Alonso, this is the freest, most creative phase but it’s also is the most complicated and agonizing. The work sessions can be many and they are short and distanced. Here there is no method or recipes. There is a lot to look at and analyze and different things to try and to discover. It is the creative painting in its essence.

Felipe Alonso color palette, medium and brushes

His color palette is quite restricted: Titanium white, Cadmium yellow lemon, Pink, Ultramarine blue (always from Old Holland), Burnt Umber and Black. As a medium, he uses Liquin, to which he occasionally adds linseed oil. As for brushes (except when working with water media like tempera or watercolor in which he uses quality brushes) he uses whatever is at hand. His technical mastery allows him to create effective pictorial marks with different elements and thus combines the brushes with metal and soft silicone spatulas, blades, and paint strippers.

Felipe Alonso is that type of rigorous artist who suffers and struggles to express himself; the kind that appeals to all his inner resources and in that brave determination ends up being only himself.

Excellent connoisseur of materials and methods he has unraveled the secret of pictorial artifice; he vindicates the knowledge of the classics and conceives painting as that alchemy that transmutes the visual image into a magical object that, because it bears the fruit of all these efforts, aspires to an honest and deserved vocation of permanence.