Manuel Pinazo (1956) - Esperanza I

GEOMETRY AND COLOR IN SPACE

Painted with natural pigments on masonite (wood)
Year .- 2021
Measurements 70.5 x 91 cm This work ships with the artist's certificate

THE EXPANDED GEOMETRY
By Pedro Alberto Cruz

The abstract language in which the entire production of Manuel Pinazo Rodríguez unfolds is a direct consequence of the reworking that geometric rigor underwent during postmodernity, as well as of the expansion that painting is carrying out beyond its traditional boundaries. The first singularizing element of his painting is the introduction of error, of “imperfection” in the translation of certain geometric schemes with a long tradition dating from the vanguards. Pinazo’s work repeats compositional models based on parallel vertical or horizontal bands of different colors, checkered patterns, or the repetition of geometric figures such as the rectangle. When observed in detail, each of these compositions reveals how the cold rationalism on which geometric abstraction is founded has been subverted by the insertion of different irregularities: lines that are slightly inclined and therefore not completely straight; different spacing between the various color bands; verticals that are interrupted and break the rhythm of the work; or, evidently, the cheerful color—with Matissean echoes—and at times with an air of ingenuousness, that undermines the metaphysical authority that oozes from much geometric-vanguard abstraction.
But Pinazo’s deconstruction of abstract geometry does not stop at this first level of critique. There is, moreover, a “second level,” which the artist has been consolidating over the years and which provides interesting conclusions. First, and in a line of work that continues the post-pictorial abstraction of the 80s, the author plays with the sculptural potential of painting through the gathering of several pieces that dynamite the traditional idea of contour/frame as a square or rectangle.

Manuel Pinazo, 1956 Valencia
• Artes y Oficios. Escuela de Eduardo Merello (A.H.V.) affiliated with the Escuela de Artes y Oficios of Valencia (5 years)