341 Sutter Street |
Josep Cisquella’s shadows elegantly illustrate a dichotomy of presence and absence: we see many of his subjects by focusing on where they are not. He is a painter of light, specifically the bright Mediterranean variety. This deep interest in the sun’s effects on objects links him strongly to Impressionist ancestors such as fellow Spanish artist Joaquin Sorolla Bastida, despite the intense realism of Cisquella’s work. It is striking that
the tightly-cropped scenes typical of his canvases are able to evoke a place so completely, that the flavor of entire towns can be immediately perceived by the texture, colors, and warmth of his painted walls.
The new paintings focus on text and familiar advertising which engages us in a process of association, one that corresponds nicely with the reflexive way we construct an object to match a cast shadow. Cisquella’s walls can be seen as many things: documentations, snapshots, celebrations of simplicity, records of passing time, proof that there is beauty to be found in the most mundane places. They are all of these, but they are also quite literally spaces for projection. Through masterful recording of detail, Cisquella inspires us to create entire worlds around the compositions he constructs so carefully.