Geometric abstraction is the prerogative of Latin American artists: Julio Le-Parc, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Julio Pacheco-Rivas, Jesús-Rafael Soto…
As a rebel, Miguel Prieto Verastegui, a Franco-Colombian artist, has made the kingdom of lyrical abstraction his own.
Miguel, as a maverick, opted for this lyrical abstraction, bordering on the figurative but always at the service of color.
Indeed his palette is instinctive, without even knowing it, he is the natural heir of the Fauves, the Expressionists, Paul Klee, Nicolas de Staël…
By embracing the painting of his predecessors, Miguel inevitably adopted French art, its art de vivre, its taste for non-conformism and at the same time feels indebted to France and its universalism. Miguel is deeply French.
Expressionist vocabulary, as bringing tensions to his works, can express the dread, the anguish, the malaise that an individual can feel.
So, as an exemple, when this writing becomes abstract, the artist invites us to meditate in front of the "Shoah" triptych, beholding it.
Color and rhythm are elements of abstract expressionist grammar that create tension and violence, « Flamenco ». This same grammar can inherence an even more oppressive tension as in the untitled work: « Mondanités ».
Music, rhythm and dance are pervading in Latin American culture. Miguel fed on it and by synesthesia, as Paul Klee previously did, he builds, with great accuracy, his compositions with vertical and horizontal rhythms, punctuated by bold color schemes.
If dissonance exists, it is to create a shock and a new emotion.
Thus the work untitled, « Carnaval » influenced by the popular Colombian Cumbia dance, features rhythms and women colorful costumes and formes elegant movements turning it into a motion painting.
Synesthesia in the work untitled « Tango » whose influence of Paul Klee and his love of music are perversive is obvious.
His knowledge of Nicolas de Staël’s work, his natural tendency for the composition of colored fields, large flat areas, skillfully balanced, allow him to compose dreamlike landscapes. Landscapes such as « Mouvement »,, minimalist landscapes, made with great economy of means such as «La Croisette » or urban landscapes such as « New York », that Miguel painted, offer several levels of readings, sometimes abstract or figurative, conveying creativity to the viewer's imagination in a firework of emotions.
Fabrice Autané
Expert en art moderne
Carnaval
Flamenco
la Croisette
La Shoah
Mondanités
Mouvement
New York
