enrique zabala. paintings

Each painting conceals a bomb behind its stretcher. That’s why I expect the viewer will not feel comfortable. It is not a game, it is not a question of finding anything that may lie in the painting. The paintings in the Maldives series speak the dangerous kitsch language characteristic of the taste of a certain social class. The members of this social class appear on the paintings, they will see themselves reflected like in a mirror, static, like effigies of themselves. The appear relaxed and happy, like a tragic summary. In some way, they don’t know what the non-happy think, their exclusiveness has taken them too far.

I have used two kinds of canvas in this series. One absorbs the paint more than the other, and the former lacks the dazzling white primer of the latter. The least absorbing one forces painting by jerky strokes, while the white primer makes the brush slide in a more flowing manner. I paint mechanically, like a brainless person. I invent games to stay alert, to keep my attention on the canvas during the painting process. I can paint and consider definitively finished some areas the size of a typing sheet of paper, that are far apart, while the rest of the canvas remains empty. I can make a grid on one or two canvases and pretend that I paint the pictures following a geometric pattern. I can paint the canvas like someone who writes a story, from left to right and from top to bottom. Anything to avoid the tremendous anxiety I feel from painting like a machine.