Michel Pérez Pollo: Un Automne at Lempertz Brussels

A new series of paintings will be exhibited at Lempertz Brussels. From September 7 until September 24. During Brussels Art Weekend. 

The show is curated by Duviel Fernandez & Hélène Robbe.

Michel Pérez Pollo’s new series of paintings is inspired by autumn and uses the image of the tree as a narrative axis of the works. Based in Madrid for just over three years, the artist is captivated by the experience of the passing seasons. Cuba, his country of origin, has only one season, almost like a lethargy.

The tree is a metaphor for decomposition, metamorphosis, and rebirth. Trunks, branches and imaginary fruits, these figures serve as both a synthesis and an extension of his poetics. The artist draws on his own imagination and places it in a wider dimension.

The interplay of dimensions presents a constant in Michel’s work.

As usual in his creative process, the painting begins with the construction of small-scale models made from modeling clay and formed into miniature models that the artist amplifies on large canvases. The figures attached to these imaginary trees are reminiscent of motifs from Michel’s previous series. What were once forms with an overwhelming presence at the center of the canvas are now small fruits and leaves that complete the openness of the compositions.

In these autumn landscapes, the figures are set against colored backgrounds. The shadows, essential to the composition, give this color a way to develop and add an essential, harmonious sense of movement.

These works symbolize the idea that painting is not there solely to represent an image, but that it exists by virtue of the recreation of painting itself.

Here, his artwork achieves a purification that touches on the spiritual, like spaces to be inhabited. Worlds where we can imagine and contemplate.

Duviel Fernandez