Onomatopoeia


Confronting my paintings each day means facing a flat, opaque surface to which I must find some way of relating. One day the experience might be extraordinary, or it might feel as if I wasted the entire day. Materiality must be transcended. Everything depends on the artist’s attitude: the choices an artist makes in a painting are directly related to what the artist wishes to see in it, or rather, wishes to say. Then the artist must learn to speak. To get results in painting, one must be determined. In painting, as in life, determination is the prerequisite for success.

Some years ago, I started investigating monochromatic painting and what it meant. By using just one color, I limited any feedback I might get from the paintings. I did not pursue monochrome simplistically; I did not have any “spiritual” aspirations. I was after something else…


The full text is published in "tema celeste" No. 84, March-April 2001.




Juan Matos Capote