RODRÍGUEZ SILVA. Horizontal in White

Horizontal in White

Under the title Horizontal in White, Rodríguez Silva presents his third individual exhibition at the Galería Fernando Pradilla. In this project, the artist shows the evolution of his discourse that continues to investigate the relationships between organic matter (painting) and inert matter (support). In this show many of the works have crossed the threshold of painting, the artist takes a step further and breaks off the boundaries between pictorial and sculptural disciplines.

When contextualizing the pieces, it is necessary to refer to the rejection that Donald Judd felt towards the established terms to describe his art, particularly in his three-dimensional works, which he called objects or pieces. Instead of referring to them as sculptures, Judd named Floor Pieces to his exempt works placed directly on the floor, and Wall Pieces to works hung on the wall. In response to this non-relational consideration of Minimalism, in this project by Rodríguez Silva we find several pieces arranged on the floor and walls of the space rooms.

The pieces that make up the Frontal en Fuga series seem to want to run away, move around, escape their location. The painting runs through the structure of a support that seeks to expand in space, breaking the plane that the wall traditionally imposes on this discipline. And precisely from his condition as a painter, his research on colour has led him to the creation of new forms in the support; that is, from the study of the interaction of colour in different planes, these works are born. These metal shapes leave some of their faces bare while others are covered by layers of paint of different density, where the author applies the spread technique, giving them character.
In other pieces, we find lighter pigment layers, in which Rodríguez Silva applies the fluid in only one direction or with multidirectional gestures, depending on the work. Whites of different shades, red and gray are distributed among these monochrome pieces of floor and wall. The series of works on paper titled Frontal Constante part of the turquoise blue colour of great intensity that degrades into colours that range from water green, gray and even pale pink. The arrangement of the quadrangular surfaces is always shown in two parallel planes separated by a few millimeters, which enhances the vibration of the color applied to the background. They are fields of spread matter that cause certain accidents on the surface and generate a topography that makes us perceive the painting as another, more malleable material.

On paper, these layers are thicker than those applied on aluminum surfaces. Therefore, the fragility of the paper ends up supporting a heavy load, while the hardness and stiffness of aluminum supports a light, more transparent or veiled layer on its surface, since the artist's main intention is to present the support next to the painting, and proclaim them both real protagonists.

Antonio Jiménez