São Paulo, Brasil
23/06/2012 - 23/07/2012

When asked about his supposed denial of geometry, the artist categorically reveals that despite appearing to be the fundamental root of his work, there is, in fact, a total disinterest in geometry itself. Remember, however, that their shapes are geometric and that the composition is supported on them. However, he says that his main purpose is the delimitation of the color fields, which, in short, is essential in his work: “For me, pure geometric abstraction is completely strange, except in the interest that I share in precision. In any case, it could be said that, somehow, I don’t need geometry. But not that I deny it ”.

Continuity, precision, concentration and intensity, always at the service of a wide and solid space of contemplation for the viewer, are the right concepts to understand what the art of Adolfo Estrada conveys. It is by conducting his painting in the maximum emotional tension that the Argentine artist living in Spain exhibits in Brazil unpublished works from his extensive and constant production.

The exhibition The visual world and painting by Adolfo Estrada – 50 years old opens on June 23 at Dan Galeria, in São Paulo, and brings about 20 pieces from his collection, including the most recent ones, inspired by his time in Patagonia.

A prestigious artist, with a permanent exhibition of his works at the important Reina Sofia museum in Madrid, and with pieces from numerous private collections in Europe and South America, Adolfo Estrada now wins a book commemorating his 50 years of artistic activity. In addition to a complete chronological selection of his best paintings and excerpts that tell the artist’s history and his influences in the arts, the publication entitled Estrada and edited by Dan Galeria, includes texts by the architect Carlos Martí Arís and the artist Juan Ariño , and also a conversation between Estrada and the Spanish artist Luis Marsans.

To understand Estrada’s work well, it is worth emphasizing the importance of knowing his three-dimensional works, in the houses of San Martí Vell, for example, in which, according to the artist himself, there is an influence of architecture and decoration, fundamental aspects for his development as painter. “There is something of an architect in my way of working with painting, of the need for some plans and sketches before the final execution of the works”, confirms Estrada. He says that in mixed compositions, however, there is no previous project: “The third dimension appears, accidentally, when composing pieces of wood of different sizes, reliefs and volumes appear halfway between painting and sculpture” .

In contrast to the predominance of vertical lines in Estrada’s canvases, his latest works place greater emphasis on horizontal ones: “… Perhaps landscapes can be visualized. Like those of Patagonia and its infinite horizon. Would we be again at the delicate limit between abstraction and figuration? … ”, reflects the artist, showing his strong relationship with the region of southern Argentina to which he traveled in 2008.