In “The Blue Flower,” Katherine Perzant evaluations the work of Cuban artist José Ángel Nazabal. For full evaluation, see No Nation Journal.
“I’ve by no means been aware of my relationship with colours, as a baby I favored inexperienced, then blue… I do know I don’t like purple. I don’t give it some thought. Once I mentally visualize a picture, purple will not be there, I don’t see it. There may be pink, pink, beige, yellow, however there isn’t any purple.” Whereas the Cuban visible artist, son of scientific mother and father —the mom is a microbiologist and the daddy is a biochemist—, is saying it, he searches for every one of many tones, frantically seems for them within the room with that shocked look so peculiar to him that stops on the couch, on the sides of his personal work, on his black cat that comes and goes, caressing along with her tail the ears of corn on the espresso desk. He goes about saying it with a accountability he’s maybe unaware of, that of being probably the most fascinating and weird Cuban painters of latest years.
On his Instagram web page, which is a mirror ball of his work, white ripped thighs, pulled out fingernails, damaged noses, belonging to the sequence Si te mueves, te corto (If You Transfer, I’ll Lower You) seem on the tiles. A bunch of threatening work that talk from a spot that resembles violence, intercourse and love, which will also be a spot that doesn’t resemble any of that, that solely feeds on all that, and that may be a white heel, a pink enamel, a telephone that rings and rings and ultimately no one solutions. An unclassifiable place, however extraordinarily near despair.
“I wished to check one thing that didn’t stray from the inventive, however that was sensible, the place nobody would shove down my throat some mumbo jumbo. And so, I studied structure. And I felt good, I mentioned, that is my factor. Very completely different from how I felt in San Alejandro. Round this time, I got here out of the closet, I felt higher, I used to be overtly homosexual. My mother and father had been supportive, we’re shut, they’ve at all times helped me with artwork and with animals, as a result of I had a number of animals as a child, they usually allowed it.”
On April 1, 2019, Nazabal posted a boy with inexperienced hair carrying an iguana on his shoulder, the boy is taking a selfie and is sporting a pink coat, made redder by the deep inexperienced of the reptile. He reminds you of these boys you see on the street after midnight, with their heads half shaved and evil of their fangs, he reminds you of the chilly bloods, the slashes. A drawing that may be a pattern of his want to color personalities which are little expressed, little investigated. If Nazabal’s portray had a classification schedule, I might say it’s the early morning. [. . .]
[. . .] In Nazabal’s imaginary every thing incorporates the sexual, intercourse assaults you from figurative actions: fingers within the mouth, legs on benches, bloody knees, pelvises raised like bridges. In his works intercourse occurred earlier than and there are express indications of the act, or it’s instructed by the ambiance that it will happen. Intercourse is in these work a devotion, a mark of intuition. They’re passionate, pleasurably painful works, as if wrapped in towels, freshly bathed and provided.
“Once I opened Instagram, I found a universe that I didn’t know existed of overtly queer, overtly homosexual folks. There are photos and accounts that I see and somebody or one thing conjures up me and I paint it. I don’t search for realism, you realize? I really like Gucci, Balenciaga, I’m impressed by these Gucci catwalks with severed heads and rubber dragons. I’ve been altering loads, at first I used to be solely fascinated about characters and a flat background, then the environments…, now I’m very fascinated about atmospheres. I would like one thing to face out. The sunshine. As in Fogata de verano. I had by no means painted canvases earlier than, aside from San Alejandro, which I don’t depend. There may be an architectural studio the place what issues is the idea, their initiatives don’t come to fruition, they usually have excellent white-black grids on landscapes, after which folks or objects are positioned on prime of these landscapes. And a while in the past I made a sequence of collages that I titled Locales hostiles, the place I put photos of myself over eventualities that I recreated, and with Fogata de verano I wished to return to that. Them standing on a flat platform and rocks from the ocean, which we don’t know why they’re there however it doesn’t matter both. And I used to be having that use of pink gentle on the our bodies…” [. . .]
And he’s impressed by clear materials, lace.
Lipsticks.
The fragile skins.
The gorgeous jaws.
He’s impressed by sensuality. Luxurious manufacturers. Pop stars.
Like in that drawing wherein a younger man with blue gloves covers his nipples, like in that drawing wherein a cellphone display illuminates the fuchsia eyelids of a teen with nineties bangs and orchid sleeves.
“It had loads to do with my liberation. I’m overtly queer, that is what I take pleasure in, I need to draw cute boys. I wouldn’t say I’m altering it, however I really feel like I’m not doing the identical as I used to with reference to our bodies and physicality. One other milestone second of my realization, additionally due to Instagram, which is my working instrument, was after I was contacted to be in The Queer Bible, an anthology by queer folks about queer folks, anthology the place yow will discover Elton John and a bunch of different vital folks. And the editor requested me as an instance a textual content about Félix González Torres written by Hans Ulrich Obrist, who’s the director of probably the most vital architectural initiatives on the earth, the Serpentine Pavilion, the place all of the architects I love have been. I wished to die.” [. . .]
For full article, see https://nocountrymagazine.com/the-blue-flower/
[Shown above, photo by Naidelys Rodríguez: José Ángel Nazabal.]