CRITIQUE by Amalia Martinez. English translation by William Godley.
THE PAINTINGS OF JORDI PEDROLA: AN EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN CLASSICISM AND MODERNITY... A BALANCE BETWEEN FIGURATIVE ART AND ABSTRACTION...
Maurice Denise, the 20th Century French painter who was one of the founders of modernity, emphasized that a painting -before it is a horse in a battle, a nude women or a simple anecdote- is essentially a flat surface covered with colors and following a certain arrangement. Denise wanted, in that way, to focus attention on the material nature of art and to emphasize that the elements of painting distinguish it from other art forms.
Figurative art, beyond its reality and independent of the fact that its content is or is not symbolic, is essentially a flat surface reflecting harmony in shape and color. This is why a painting’s type does not depend upon the way it takes form in the equilibrium of composition, the delicacy of drawing, the quality of strokes, and the way in which all these elements are integrated. This explains why the vanguard painters of the early 20th Century left to photography the task of reproducing reality. In contrast, they began an exploration of what was truly proper in art by letting each work’s formal elements its theme. This abandonment of the mimetic in painting created fertile ground for the development of each new movement we associate with the art of the 20th Century. With the loss of interest in objective naturalism, artist were liberated from the slavery of imitation and emancipated from the need to represent the natural reality. Art became the creation of a different reality based on each work’s own material content.
Consuelo Ciscar - Dir. of State Museums of Valencia
We are now at a point where it is easy to see what fantastic changes in art have occurred during the past century. During this time the search for new pictorical forms has come from a deep investigation of the many possibilities offered by a line design, disposition of colors, strong contrasts among shapes, and between darkness and luminosity. We face a situation, however, where the principles responsible for the modern movement itself are sometimes forgotten. Ideas have even surfaced supportive of the theory that art somehow exists because of its own characteristics and not because of the elements which are actually responsible. At this moment it is inspirational to find artists like Jordi Pedrola whose works truly exemplify the best principles of the modern movement. In these paintings many faces-numerous of wich at first appear similar- demonstrate their creator’s concern for the explotation of basic values in art: background material, line, color, chiaroscuro, area, texture, volume... These elements themselves are the real protagonists of each canvas immediately speaks to us in its own language. This is a mysterious, deeply personal language -and one lost in thought. Each painting is somehow independent from the laws of nature. This is because the rules guiding the formation of Jordi Pedrola’s images result in a delicate balance among plastic elements which are in contrast -vibrant complementary colors, an expressive articulation of fullness and emptiness, and a particulary strong distinction between light and dark.
The compositions of Jordi Pedrola are based on a search for harmony derived from an opposition of elements. In this artist’s canvases, stains of color seem to work against similar forces, but-at the same time- actually create a feeling of harmony not free of visual tension. This “opposition” results in a unique power and richness. Another characteristic of these works is a search for symetry, implicit in geometric shapes and oblique lines suggesting three dimensional space. This happens even though the construction of virtual space is simultaneously refused by the flat colors used. The “flatness” of each canvas is strengthened by the thickness of the color paste whose natural pigment has been mixed-as in the past- with linseed oil. Such “cuisine-like” mixting is all-important for this Catalan artist, because he views each material element of art as having its own peculiar aesthetic even though inextricably connected to other aspects like heaviness of stroke, shape of canvas,shape of board,etc.
Each of these paintings also demonstrates a “solidarity” between chromatic mass and those lines that provide demarcation. There is a distinc relationship between this solidarity and all other elements present, and this connection clarifies for us Jordi Pedrola’s individualistic artistic language and true aesthetic purpose. We can see him the “Catalan Romantic”, a man closely tied to his Mediterranean heritage and to the ancient Greek idea that color and Symmetry are essential to fine art. The Roman writer Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23-79) noted in his Chronicles that the Stoic School of Philosophy considered these two elements integral to beauty. This belief was continued throughout the Middle Ages, was prevalent during the Italian Renaissance and-although usually formalized in a different way -is still considered valid in our own time. Jordi Pedrola represents then a definite llink to the oldest sources of Mediterranean Art, a culture with which he is closely related by blood. His paintings are colored surfaces searching for equilibrium. One has to concentrate on these surfaces, for they depic reality.
As noted above, Jordi Pedrola’s unique modern style is symptomatic of his Catalan roots. While still a child, this artist was fascinated by what he saw in the Art Museum of Catalonia in Barcelona and specially by the beautiful frescoes of ancient Catalan churches that are preserved there. This fascination was led Jordi Pedrola to concentrate on mural painting when launching his career. In these early murals romantic images are the result of formal games. There is already emphasis on symmetric composition, geometric reduction of the figures, use of bold color, and evidence of a search for ornamental bRIGHTness. Symbolic content becomes pure decoration and we experience while examining these works a sense of pleasure close to the spiritual. There is a sensual and calm beauty achieved by the trust strokes that create eyes and mouths, and we see matter, color, equilibrium, and visual tension everywhere. In the wooden panels entitled “THE TEARS OF THE SEPHARDIC NATION” (SEEN AT THE HOME PAGE) the violence of the red is tempered by the serenity of the deep blue, and balance comes from this interaction. Symbolism and decoration are impossible to separate in this striking wood, as are the two faces that occupy the left panel -two faces melting into one, sharing features through intimate brushstrokes.
To confront and experience the works of Jordi Pedrola is to confront and experience color. And since color cannot be disassociated with shape or with the borders that limit it, there is a structural relationship between shape and color. In Jordi Pedrola’s paintings this is especially obvious of the use of symmetric axis to support the distribution of the stains of color and, as a result, to establish counterbalance. Moreover, for these artist, color establishes a direct bridge to the observer. Color, more than other formal element, appeals to emotion and to subjective feelings. This explains why, of course, that color has been so widely used by every cultural group throughout mankind’s history. Like some type of universal language, this element continues to carry symbolic and expressive weight. Wassily Kandinsky, one of the founding fathers of abstraction and a master at using color, stated that a full palette of hues insures two results. They are an awareness of the basic beauty in color, and an awareness of the phychological power of color. Color can exert direct influence on the soul. In other words, color is the key, the eye is the hammer, and the soul is the piano with its strings. The artist is the hand that, through the keys, causes the human soul to vibrate. Kandinsky knew how to probe deeply into color in order to fuse the decorative and expressive, the rational and spiritual, the abstractive and the figurative. He realized, as do so all authentic artists, that a meaningful discussion of art involves a discussion of the elements of art. And when we talk of the Spanish artist Jordi Pedrola and his connection with the tradition of Mediterranean Classicism, we are talking of beauty and harmony in art. We are discussing hedonism in painting. This is an art that brings pleasure to the senses and one in which profound feelings are expressed Through color.
Perhaps the time has come when all of us, like Jordi Pedrola, must reaffirm emphatically that art’s basic function is to promote sensual and aesthetic pleasure. It is time to search again for beauty in ornament and to proclaim loudly that the decorative aspect of image has always been, and will continue to be, the cornerstone of truly fine art. It is time to again emphasis that finding pleasure in the visual arts nourishes the soul.