Pensamiento

Paintings should only be analyzed in hindsight. We can discuss and write about how a certain style was used in this or that period, tracing a line from Prehistoric paintings in Atapuerca to the latest achievements of humankind. However, we must refrain from labelling the artist in the moment of creation. Among other reasons, because it can inhibit the creative process, even if in the slightest. Moreover, those who attempt to critique the artwork haven’t been in the artist’s shoes. 

One may then wonder, when confronted with a work of art, must we stay silent? That could not be further from the truth. Of course one must observe the work! Of course we must listen to anyone who wishes to talk about it, as long as these reflections come from a personal dialogue with the work and never from a different disposition. Unfortunately, we live in a society where the value of things is determined by profit margins. Commercialism has taken over the art world. There are fewer and fewer artists who work “for the love of art”; many of them are trapped in this mouse wheel. I get chills when I hear a gallerist talk about a well-renowned artist who is working on a “series” of a hundred large-format paintings. The question that inevitably comes to mind is whether the merit will lie on the number of paintings, the format, the demand or the genius of the gallerists themselves. 

Jorge Rando, Madrid, March 2003