Gemma Alpuente — Painter
Gemma
Alpuente
The paint, in liquid state, is applied to the support in the traditional way. Then this subrogation to the two-dimensional plane is broken. The plastic action takes protagonism, becomes independent of the support, and becomes continent and content, matter and absence, painting, sculpture, art itself.
Her own. The result of experimentation with materials outside the field of fine arts, whose manipulation is laborious and requires full PPE protection. Chemical reactions. Solidification of liquids. High temperatures. Control in the freezing of pictorial fluids. The colour stains that would come off, do not. The liquid instead of evaporating remains solidified.
"When I create art it is as if my body becomes a channel and executor of my soul. I think that keeps the art alive, vibrant and exciting."
She was born in Algemesí, Valencia in 1993 and she has developed a technique that is entirely her own, one that requires protective equipment and involves chemical reactions, the solidification of liquids, and the control of heat applied to pictorial fluids. The results are paintings that have become volumes: masses of colour, texture and chromatism that intertwine to form something between painting and sculpture, between matter and absence. The two-dimensional recovers presence. The brushstroke becomes the protagonist. The process is frozen and the works emanate life and movement.
She describes herself as working from within: intuition, emotions, sensitivity. When she creates art it is as if her body becomes a channel and executor of her soul. She leaves space for chance and for the emotion of the creative moment. She does not like to have very concrete ideas. She remembers drawing this way as a child, and now, after an unconscious search for her purest essence, she is making real the drawings that little Gemma used to make.
I understand art, and more specifically artistic creation, as a research method in which to develop new concepts and visual, plastic and material frameworks. In the current period of artistic and personal maturity in which I find myself, I am developing my most intimate artistic project. On the one hand, purely abstract creation and on the other hand, mixed creation, interspersing my particular abstraction with more figurative elements.
Today, I find that abstract art is an aspect of work in which I feel completely free creatively and that I can identify with conceptually. Through the development of my own technique I create artistic compositions based on the simplicity of the gestural and chromatic act. The painting becomes volume, the brushstroke becomes the protagonist, the collage becomes a fundamental element, the process is frozen and the works emanate life and movement.
My way of working gives a lot of importance to intuition, emotions and sensitivity. When I create art, it is as if my body becomes a channel and executor of my soul. Sometimes I have very open ideas or sketches. I don't like to have very concrete ideas, but there is always a space for the emotion of the creative moment, chance and possibilities. I think that keeps the art alive, vibrant and exciting.
"The colour stains that would come off, do not. The liquid instead of evaporating remains solidified. The two-dimensional recovers presence."
Gemma Alpuente · On her techniqueThe art world is corrupt, as is the world in general. There are brilliant artists with brilliant minds who live thinking that their work is not good, and there are mediocre artists thinking that their work is magnificent because they are endorsed by large galleries, or have a circle of wealthy people who feed that feeling and social status. And then there are the rest of us trying to make ends meet, trying to show the world the beauty we see in it, working hard, striving not to fall into the despair of the uncertainty of being an artist.
It's wonderful when you find people in the art field: gallery owners, curators, critics, collectors, who have really good values, and who really value art, the artist and the effort they put into their work.
Wellness is the basis of everything. I am aware that when we are emotionally well everything flows better. For me, sport is indispensable, since it frees me from stress. And my way of working, from the inside, becomes a kind of meditation, the result of which are my artistic creations.
I am writing a book about everything I have been learning about emotional management and getting started in art. My motivation is to make a guide with what I would have liked to know before embarking on this path. An accompaniment guide is something I had been thinking about for a long time and finally I have decided to do it, and it fills me with emotion.
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