When abstract art propels creativity.
Hasn´t it happened to you that the sudden vision of something (an artwork, a scene, a landscape…) propels your creativity to levels you had never imagined you could get to before?
It just happened to me last weekend while invited to this elegant Barcelona´s appartment. They oppened the door and there it was, a stunning huuuge abstract piece of portuguese contemporary artist Rodrigo Oliveira.
Rodrigo Oliveira artwork (aprox size: 3×5 mts)
Rodrigo Oliveira
Why did it impact me that much? I guess it has to do with its huge size, the surface in which it had been done (a brilliant metallic shade) and the contrast between this surface and the multicolored oils falling all over the artwork. I thought this was clever, quiiiite clever.
If you red the post where I talked about the muses and my just started abstract art series called decompostions, you will already know that I´m currently plastically investigating a new concept that captures my attention: How things disappear, and little by little transform themselfs into something new and different (abstract), and how we as humans try to stick to what we know and feel confortable with, hoping to avoid this inevitably change.
Antonio Basso. Decomposition #6. Mixed media on burlap
The moment I saw Oliveira´s abstract art something changed! Something happened to me! The next morning I woke up and while walking on the street I saw what we in Spain call a “Palet”, which is a wooden structure used to transport goods.
The old abbandoned palet
I took it and carry its no less than 15 kgs to my studio. Before doing anything, I left it in the terrace to observe and analyze it in detail during a couple of days. Its age, still lasting organic and natural colors, its random breaks and volume where all quite interesting. The rusty cloves around it as well as the small little wood peaces I was about to face where also challenging.
Preparing this new surface
Working on a surface like this has become a new challange and my creativity has turned on moving me into a new and unknown”territory”. I said to myself: what if I try to explain the Decompositions concept in a different way? What about using a surface whose usage has nothing to do with traditional pictorial ones? How to confront a surface with such a strenght and personality that has nothing to do with a traditional canvas?
I started working on it
Stay tunned to see the evolution of this new creation, and feel free to share this post if you have enjoy it.
