PIGMENT, by Daniel Mattar, is a series that finds itself at some point between the precision of a camera and experience of a gesture; between the cleanness of printing and dirtiness of ink; between the mysterious alchemy of colors and its contemporary and global version.
The result challenges us as these almost antagonistic readings overlap, allowing a glimpse of discarded ideas and choices - like a pentimento.
In 2016, the artist decided to leave the comfort zone offered by his profuse technical command of photography and initiated a study with colors and gestures, paints and brushes. He became immersed in abstract painting, transforming his studio into an atelier and producing large oil paintings. The process was lengthy and gratifying, enriching. The result, however, did not convince him.
Revisiting the residues of this catharsis /study/research /encounter, Daniel Mattar realized that something intriguing and powerful was being released by the used paint tubes and stains; the remains of gestures. He then returned to these vestiges with his eye dilated by the macro lens and sharpened by hyper-zoom lenses. Thus was born the series, PIGMENT- Narratives of surfaces.
During this process different layers of images were impelled by the artist´s perception: the mix of colors stuck on the tubes and the damage, textures and volumes that created a "planetary" topography on the surfaces of the crushed tubes. Also, the alchemic and poetic legacy of the pigment names: Noir D'Ivoire , Bleu Lumière, Titanium White, replicated obsessively to attend to the demands of globalization: Ombre Naturelle, Raw Umber, Ombra Naturale, Sombra Natural, Umbra Nature... sometimes even adding other information: Blue di Cobalto - Imitazione, to make it explicit that the cobalt is no longer there. All these compulsively stamped with the digital impressions of industrial production, the bar codes.
The final image, printed in large format, subverts the original scale of the objects, creating an expressive and augmented reality. Produced on C-print, they are mounted on intensely shiny material. They are precious surfaces for deteriorated surfaces - though worn by the artistic gesture, which never lacks poetry.
Denise Mattar, 2018
Curator and Text: Denise Mattar
Exhibition set-up: Pedro Canoilas
Realization: Brisa Galeria
