José Noguero

I’m interested in the relationship between reality and fiction in the two scenarios or
landscapes in which we move simultaneously: one could be described as the
“objective” reality we encounter physically or socially, while the other is the landscape
shaped by our longings, hopes, fears, and prejudices.
But above all, I’m interested in the peripheral zone, the middle ground, where the two
scenarios meet. It’s as if our desires and fears were characters in a play, performing a
drama (or perhaps a comedy?) in which ambiguous reflections, fictional games, and
fragmentations take centre stage.

An interest in the fragility and transience of existence is a constant theme in my work.
The series of photographs of rags in the studio alludes to this. Likewise, the clouds that
I continually photograph and paint could be a metaphor for our own transience.
However, that precariousness in time holds a certain beauty and dignity in some
unrepeatable moments—whether they span a few decades of our lives, the seconds
during which a cloud manifests, or the fleeting “life” of a rag with traces of paint.
In my painting, I would highlight its spatial longing. Perhaps because my work stems
from sculpture, I pursue depth as if with the stroke of a chisel. The landscapes or skies
are constructed with overlapping three-dimensional structures, combining broad areas
of glazing with planes in perspective and energetic brush-strokes. Transparency and
opacity alternate with strong colour contrasts and compositional dynamism.
Abstract Expressionism, Japanese art, and Venetian painting are sources of inspiration.
Venetian light and colour, with their voluptuousness and dynamism, combined with the
Expressionism and constructive drive of artists such as Frank Auerbach, form another
of the contrasts from which my work emerges.
There is an ambivalence between the exuberance of Baroque representations—with
their view of life as a dream—and the ascetic desire stemming from certain Eastern
philosophies and aesthetics, which also explore what is essential and what is illusory.
The portrait drawings of Aulus Vitellius, Innocent X, Publius, and Domitian were
created in Rome during my stay as a fellow at the Spanish Academy. They are studies of
sculptures and were part of a project exploring their presence in the Eternal City.