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EXPRESSIONISM and COLOR.
(Examples)
José Manuel Merello
EXPRESSIONISM WORLD,
EXPRESSIONISTS TODAY. THE COLOR.-
Mujer y pajaritos
(21 x 29'7 cm)
Pencil on paper
EXPRESSIONISM WORLD,
EXPRESSIONISTS TODAY. THE COLOR.-
Muchacha interior.
(40 x 30 cm)
Mix media on wood
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EXPRESSIONISM WORLD.
Rebeca Tenerife.
Oil
Contemporary art |
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EXPRESSIONISM WORLD,
EXPRESSIONISTS TODAY. THE COLOR.-
Mujer con impacto rojo.
Pencil on paper
EXPRESSIONISM WORLD,
EXPRESSIONISTS TODAY. THE COLOR.-
Niño
de la Malvarrosa.
Mix media on wood
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EXPRESSIONISM WORLD.
Don Quixote.
Oil
EXPRESSIONISM WORLD.
Portuguese.
Pencil
EXPRESSIONISM WORLD.
Portrait with Hat.
Last Updatete → 2024-10-12
Web
©
José Manuel Merello Arvilla.-
EXPRESSIONISM WORLD. EXPRESSIONISM COLOR.
Thoughts about art and painting.
" I am not an avant-garde artist.
My art is contemporary, literally speaking: a product of its
time. Vanguard, on the contrary, represents the most modern
innovations – neither better nor worse; like the sharp point of
a spear which opens up new paths. However, that sharp point
needs all the power and weight of the rest of the spear, the
weight of Art History. Without all this History, there is no
push to open up new ways. Vanguard Art represents freshness,
novelty, surprise, the truth and the fake. A risky and
fascinating bet. However, what interests me is to draw from the
classic and contemporary traditions, deepen into the walked
path, and remain vigilant – like many other artists – to provide
vanguard artists a solid foundation. Much in the same way as an
older brother holds his youngest brother’s hand with
fascination, as the intrepid child peeks, with wonderful daring
and without fear, into the abyss. I need to keep an eye on the
Avant-garde Movement because it keeps me young as artist, it
cleanses me, it clears up my spirit, so that my view doesn’t
sour. I am a part of the body of the spear and, from that
vantage point, I observe with fascination the young art sharp
poking at the same time that I draw from the magnificent work of
the masters of all times, the powerful legacy that sustains us.
I am not part of the sparkles – sometimes ephemeral – of the
spearhead. Each one of us has his role, and mine, nowadays, is
not in the vanguard." © José Manuel Merello
"ABOUT JOAQUÍN SOROLLLA".: Today it does not seem to be too modern
speaking about Joaquín Sorolla, the great Valencian painter. But
I always have refused to see in him an antiquated,
impressionistic painter, luminous and little else more.
Otherwise, Sorolla is one of the big ones, a titan, a Colossus
of the painting. He maybe couldn’t be compared neither to a
Velázquez nor to a Picasso, it would be very daring, but yes I
see him at a height of a Cezanne or a Manet. Well, it is true
that the work of the Valencian one is very unequal in quality
and is paying for decades for this discontinuity in such way
that only very few people can rescue between his painting those
linens which catapult him towards the Olympus: Sorolla's white
linens." © José Manuel Merello
"Abstract Painting and Surrealist Painting, apart from being
essential and marvelous in themselves, these days also fulfill
an invaluable pedagogical function for any artist. The have now
become part of Classical Art and are the Artistic Heritage for
Spiritual Learning and Artistic technique. They are like
gymnastics for the unaware and for the eye, providing places
where almost all feelings and spiritual emotions can be hatched
to finally lead to build this immeasurable and grandiose thing
we call THE ART of PAINTING." © José Manuel Merello
"A good drawing cannot in any way be unfavorably compared with a
good painting. It is more, beneath every picture is an essential
underlying drawing that sustains it, a skeleton that mobilizes
it and gives it form. Any painting lacking of this base crumbles
and appears flimsy." © José Manuel Merello
" The drawing does not remain defined by the line, not even the
painting remains defined by the color. The painting is still
saved, and this is partly what currently defines it, of being
able to be assimilated and comprising in a monitor or a photo.
On the other hand the drawing does really is asimilable by these
means. Leaving aside fetishisms, it does not matter to me to
have an original drawing or a photo or an identical poster of
him. It is the same thing and the drawing can be enjoyed
identically, as it happens despite of reading a good book in
different editions, or seeing the same photo revealed for the
second or tenth time. When it is not in game neither the
fetishism nor the plasticity, all these supports take us to the
nobility - or misery - of the work. But in painting the
plasticity is always in game, the plasticity, the morbidity, the
opaqueness or the transparence, the brilliant or dull surface...
qualities that are impossible to be transmitted by means of a
monitor of computer, a TV or a poster. The digital technique,
far from ruining the arts, it only does to demonstrate the
singularities of these other techniques, and the painting gains
the garland due to currently it is impossible to enjoy
completely The Meninas in an image, impossible to feel the
powerful sensation of gap of the stay where Velázquez does,
impossibly to perceive the pearly rind of the pictorial layer of
the picture, useless to turned oneself and to see sideway to be
able to feel the delicate nodes and stretch marks of the
painting of the genius. And let's not say anything about
pictures of Tàpies, or of Lucian Freud, or of Jasper Johns...
The color and the disposition of the forms can suggest us very
much, of course, but they remain far away, they are not enough
to express the plasticity of the picture. This is the Painting."
© José Manuel Merello
" In painting and in drawing, technically speaking, things can
be wrong done if they do not know how to make them correctly,
but the bad made things must be "perfectly wrong made". This way
the result will always be good. " (summer 2004) © José Manuel
Merello
"Art History is the emotional and spiritual History of
humankind. It is a remembering of its most sublime feelings
materialized in works of art that transcend time. Altamira and
Lascaux are primitive examples of this human desire of
expressing its emotions. In my opinion, there is not any
artistic era superior to another one in its initial impetus to
create a material proof of an emotion or a spiritual pleasure.
On the other hand, I believe there have been art eras superior
to others since the human being has improved its technique. In
the same way that scientific progress always goes up, artistic
progress, which needs technology to advance, evolves with an
increasing trend. However, this evolution is not continuous,
since it depends on two factors: technique and spiritual
emotion. Art is not just a feeling. Art is the feeling being
materialized, incarnated, sculpted, written with skill and
technique. The cavemen had only a few tools at their reach;
consequently their art is more primitive than Baroque Art, to
give an example. The problem lies in the fact that technique and
emotion do not always move along parallel lines. As a result, we
can sometimes find art periods with a greater and purer
emotional and spiritual impulse, even though they relied on
inferior technique. On the other hand, we sometimes can find
other periods with better means, in which the art is weaker due
to the human soul was soured, repressed, or manipulated. When
the human spirit undergoes a sublime and free period,
accompanied by a superior technique, then we will refer to this
period as a Golden Art Age." © José Manuel Merello
Art and the economical crisis
Art, as any commercial product, is noticing the same or more,
since it is not an essential item, the consequences of the
current economic situation. However, as in all times of change
and redirection of political, economic and social paradigms, art
can come out, enriched and even strengthened, of a situation
like this.
In the Art world, particularly in the interpretation, actors and
actresses tell that certain levels of anxiety and stress are
able to awake in them the ability to concentrate and a
transmission talent which they do not have in normal situations.
And, what is the present time but a continuous state of turmoil
and excitement? The art has been, fortunately or unfortunately,
nurtured by many or all of the major episodes of human seizure;
signs of this are the Picasso's Guernica or the Fusilamientos
del 2 de Mayo from Goya.
Would then be currently expected to flourish great works of art
or even a new art movement? Movement that could result in two
very different topics, one that would focus on criticism and
look to the past aiming on the events and behaviors that have
led us to the current economic crisis, and another that would
extoll all that nourishes and gives the human a second
opportunity to reorient their economic, social and political
processes, as intelligence and generosity. ©P.M. Giménez
"Nowadays, Modern Art exudes a breath of fresh air and freedom
never before imaginable. Up till now, Art History has never had
such an array of possible techniques for artists to choose from
or such a variety of artistic languages for artists to fully
express themselves. All the different Art schools and
tendencies, favoritisms aside (even though they have always been
there), enjoy a great open field that promises fabulous
creations in the coming years.
Surrealism, which was born in the 20th century as a perfectly
defined art movement, is nowadays a tendency impacted by
Expressionism, Figuratism, Abstract and many other schools of
Art, which enrich Surrealism without diluting it and enlarge
Surrealism without voiding it. I opine that the borders in art
tend to vanish. It is still very complex to reflect upon this
phenomenon since we find ourselves currently in this Art
multimovement searching for the "one Art". But beware; never
should it be an imposition or an absolute movement. Art is free
by nature and it will always slip away, like water through our
fingers, from the premonitions and the horizons that we try to
impose on it." © José Manuel Merello
“I plead for humility in painting. Painting does not need so
much fanfare or intellectual pretension. It must come from a
person’s clean soul, from the clear and pure eye of the painter,
even if only a simple apple is being painted. It is for this
reason that I admire Morandi so much.” © José Manuel Merello
"I detest a large part of the minimalism that is practiced today
across all the arts. I'm afraid that within this alleged
synthesis there is an excess of rubbish and uselessness floating
around that serves only to confuse the audience, which sometimes
may be ignorant but blameless, although, more frequently,
intolerably pedantic, void of any understanding or knowledge."
© José Manuel Merello
“A frame to a good painting is like a dress to a beautiful naked
woman. It is not essential but serves to celebrate and give
charm to the work.” © José Manuel Merello
"Spanish painting has, throughout the centuries, maintained a
serene and melancholic regard: tragic but never violent. There
is no such thing as violent Spanish painting. Even the most
ferocious Goya or the most horrifying Picasso never lose the
composure and class inherent in the brushwork." © José Manuel
Merello
"Everybody asks themselves what art is. I think that art is any
human creation that is able to lift the spirit to a higher plain
of emotion and wonderment." © José Manuel Merello
"The Expressionist Painters, The Surrealistic ones, The
Contemporary Painters in general ... and The Ancients,
Figurative Painters, Abstracts, Realistics, Pop, The Greatest
Painters, The Unknown ones, The Famous ones, The Genial Artists
and The Artists without Genius... The Draftsmen of Comic, The
Digital ones, Arrogants, Simples, Mad Painters, Rich ones, Poor
Painters. It does not matter for me from where are they, Chinese
or Spanish Painters; I like All the Painters around the World, I
am interested in the whole painting; a simple vase, an anonymous
portrait, a pretentious picture, a stupid picture, a brilliant
painting: They all are Painters, All is Painting" © José Manuel
Merello
"Horses and children. Fat women, beautiful women and old ladies.
The magicians and poets. Dogs and cats sleeping. Bulls and
Spanish bullfighters. The processions of Seville and Malaga. The
crucified Christs filled with blood and prayers. The saints. A
Virgin for each village. The sun and the rain of Biscay. The
sea, the passion, love and art of the Mediterranean. Painting
and older architecture. And the most modern. The dances and
dances of the villages lost. Literature issued by the Spanish
world. Deep red, purple, black and olive. The balance between
the sun, moon and stars: this is the Spanish art. " ©José Manuel
Merello
"How will be the art in 2011 and in the near future? Freedom
defines contemporary art. International art fairs are fun and
intriguing, are challenges for thought and human emotion.
Walking through a contemporary art fair like ARCO in Madrid, is
now a mental release. You may think that what we are seeing is
not "art", you may think that some artistic creations are not
moral and then deduce that they are not art. But you are wrong.
The art does not ever depend on morality. Any work of art owes
nothing to any form of thought or ideology. The human spirit is
free. Art is free. The art is beyond good and evil. What is
necessary is to prevent some forms of art that are violent,
dangerous, dictatorial. We can not allow them because we need
rules for coexistence or because it is ethically unacceptable.
For example, we can turn the Amazon into a garden empty, naked,
with only a tree. Sure could be a work of conceptual art, but it
would be really stupid. The savagery and brutality can be
handled with great skill. It would not be moral, it might be
art, but should not be allowed.
Another common mistake for many visitors to ARCO is to think
that there can be only paint. No. The painting is a very
important part of art, but only a part. Many artists complain
that there is very little paint on the contemporary art fairs.
They have a point, perhaps the art galleries with paintings
should be more exposed there. Modern painting or classical
paintings are wonderful, a highly evolved form of art ... but
Art does not need paintings for being Art. Of course, many
current creations are just ephemeral art, art to think and
meditate during a few minutes. And now that's a very interesting
difference." ©José Manuel Merello
Van Gogh, Leonardo da Vinci, Mozart and Marilyn. Matches.
"More nonsense. Now it's up to Van Gogh. Just a new book that
speculates about his last days of life, whether he committed
suicide or was accidentally killed.
I don’t have read the book, but I have read some notes like one
where someone asks Vincent, who was bleeding in his bed, if he
had wanted to commit suicide and he said “I think so”. And for
some persons this is a enough reason to write a book because
this answer might indicate that he did not pull the trigger.
This nonsense, and others cited in the book, justifies, without
shame, to raise a new plot that will surely give a lot of money,
because it is likely to be after converted into a film. Tangle
and dig no matter what it takes, without the least respect in
the life of someone who gave everything for nothing. It's
disgusting this hobby to create a hieroglyph which gives morbid
fascination and money for a long time. It seems to me outrageous
disrespect to the generous genius.
This is the same with Leonardo's Mona Lisa. Come and see what we
invented now or what we can discover in the hackneyed, heavy and
nothing enigmatic smile of Donna. Hey, look, I think this hair
of his hair is like a cross of a rare sect and this union of
points that I see is the trail of a powerful secret means that
Leonardo knew, even then, the existence of neutrinos. And on and
on, nonsense after another, no matter if the Mona Lisa is a
mediocre picture (beyond the use of "sfumato" as innovation),
mediocre, yes, in its historical context and others it can have
a bit interest but plastically is not too good. Never mind. They
have already managed to become it an icon based in chatter and
nonsense, and then it begins to have an interest, quite apart
from its true quality. As the image of Marilyn in pop art.
Nothing more. Poor Marilyn, how many people are still profiting
from his image and his death. I am convinced Da Vinci would be
saddened about all these matters.
Or Mozart. He and his death. Salieri and Mozart enmeshed in a
tangle mesh tarnishing forever the image of the great man,
making him look like drivel, like a clown in the, otherwise
extraordinary, film of Milos Forman's, "Amadeus". It is always
the same: to make art or intrigue whatever it costs. I always
say that art does not know morality but that does not entitle us
to crucify dogs or to make intrigues and cabals on humans who
only made to magnify our spirit giving it all they've got.
I am very sad about people do not stop to remove the ears,
bones, misery and privacy of these martyrs of art.
Please, leave them all alone."
©José Manuel Merello
"…being a painter, a writer, a sculptor or a musician does not
put one at a higher rank than any other profession. There are a
lot of professions that, when carried out to the extreme,
without a doubt achieve a higher level than that of the majority
of artists. For instance, a wonderful craftsman, a maker of
Manila shawls, can go further than a mediocre sculptor; the work
can be superior. Or a great soccer player can raise greater
passion than most of us, painters. To be an “artist” does not
guarantee anything. However, sometimes a genius is born in a way
that distinguishes the great arts, along with science,
philosophy or politics, from any other endeavor. We cannot
compare Michael Angelo’s Sistine Chapel or Newton’s Law of
Gravitation with the most amazing soccer goal. Art with capital
letters is easy to detect; its light continues to shine through
time.” ©José Manuel Merello
ART 21. ART NEWS. CURRENT ART PAINTING.