The Language of the Ineffable
For the first time, Matías Prado presents his work in a format and with techniques other than illustration, to which he has devoted himself in recent years, creating books, diaries, clothing and murals, constructing his own recognisable graphic and material universe.
In this exhibition at Isabel Croxatto Galería, El Lenguaje de lo Inefable [The Language of the Ineffable], Matías presents himself in a new way, moving away from areas he already knows and masters, such as watercolour or pencil on paper, to approach techniques and media he is just beginning to explore, such as acrylic on canvas and ceramics. This shift is a natural one, the result of his restlessness as an artist; but it is also, above all, an honest search for new forms that encourage us to look at his work without prejudice and to share in the adventure of redefining his own language.
In this series of paintings, Matías continues to work with the human figure, achieving new sensations thanks to the almost gigantic scale of the pieces (especially compared to the miniatures he had worked with previously) and where the technique allows him to go in search of spatial and colour solutions that were reserved for spontaneity. This "new period" offers greater reflections on the emotional and introspective, something he states in the names of his paintings, distancing himself from what could be formally associated with the Bauhaus school or, in Latin America, the Escuela del Sur (School of the South). In his case, it is not so much an aesthetic of shapes and colours as a search for deeper answers: it is an immersion in the mystery of painting, where there is no safe ground and where only his inner light can lead him to know whether the emotions he is really looking for are there, between the colours and shapes.
The exhibition also includes a group of small-format ceramics, which Matías approaches in a very vital way, without any pretension, and which are fascinating for their naturalness with the material; in these ceramics, the freshness of the colours and the simple and sincere gesture of the handmade are captivating and contagious.
Jorge Carroza Solar, gallerist and antiquarian.
May 2024.
