Antonio de Andrés-Gáyon (1961-2012) - Beine

Antonio de Andrés-Gáyon (1961-2012), Beine, 2009.

Acrylic on hardboard, 78 x 40 cm. Verso with wall mounting and numbering.

Provenance: From the artist's estate, Berlin.

Condition: Good, age-appropriate condition. The illustrations are part of the condition description.

For the exhibition of the paintings "Beine" a text by the artist was created in 2009:

Antonio de Andrés-Gayón; Munich, May 26, 2009
This exhibition is a fragment. It does not intend to capture the totality of my work, just as the theme “Legs of women” does not represent the entire woman. Here I certainly do not want to say that the woman consists only of legs.

Once it is clarified that a part is not the whole, the whole may be cited, I come to the description of the work: Because eternally the woman lures, because drawing women’s legs, because painting women’s legs is very difficult. These are the reasons why I present you with women's legs.

Without any help (slides, projector, etc.) I draw from life. A woman stands before me in this pose. After the sketch in pencil I paint the oil colors directly onto the board with brushes. The following difficulties have to be mastered:

The woman must stand credibly, bear her weight on her feet, not float somewhere. In the empty space of the painting she carries her weight with her legs, that must be clarified.
The proportions of the limbs, the length to the width of the thighs, shin, and feet, the toes. Eternal variations on a constant theme. Depending on person, light, and pose, everything is always new and different.
What color is the skin? Whether in shadow, in light, reflections, tension … of green, black, blue, yellow, red. Always the entire rainbow is in the painting, only where and how much of the hue?

I want to ask you, the viewer: Do my legs live? Ultimately the guest need not be a cook to enjoy the meal. Yet it enormously enhances the pleasure: education.

Biography
Antonio de Andrés-Gayón (1961–2012) was a Spanish sculptor and painter who was born in Madrid and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich from 1985, where he became a master student under Olaf Metzel from his third semester. After studios in Munich, Cologne and Hamburg, he lived and worked in Berlin since 2000.
At the center of his artistic work was the human figure. Whether drawing, painting or sculpture, Antonio de Andrés-Gayón explored the expressive power of the body with exceptional precision and craftsmanship. His works deal with proportion, movement and the relationship between human and space. The artist himself defined his artistic claim in his own words: “My concept is quality.”
His figurative works combine classical sculpture and academic drawing with a contemporary visual language. In particular, his depictions of the human body are characterized by an intensive engagement with form, anatomy and expression. Today, works by Antonio de Andrés-Gayón are represented on the international art market and are regularly traded through galleries and auctions.