Yellow almost Red, almost Blue

2022

Loom Gallery presents “Amarillo casi rojo, casi azul” [Yellow almost red, almost blue], a solo show by Mexican artist Francisco Ugarte (Guadalajara, 1974).

Francisco Ugarte's practice focuses on the exploration of minimal elements in representation such as line, geometric forms, primary colors, the materiality of metal or concrete, as well as the consideration of the act of drawing as a subjective expression that can be meditative or performative. Ugarte constantly highlights the elements offered by the context itself in order to intensify our perception, activate landscapes, or emphasize a natural or architectural phenomenon. Through a coherent economy of resources and conceptual techniques, the artist has developed a personal language and a catalog of distinctive forms that evoke architectural codes, oriental philosophy, abstraction and different processual approaches to painting.

In recent years, his work has evolved towards the exploration of drawing and painting as a conceptual tool and performative act. For this exhibition, the artist has prepared a new series of color gradient paintings, as well as metal sculptures that dialogue with the gallery space and recall the most elemental drawing.

His chromatic compositions consider the act of painting from a mindful aspect in which the artist pours all his subjectivity of the present moment. Following his work methodology inherited from an architectural approach, the artist starts from a defined number of resources to explore how these can relate in a specific environment, seeking to apprehend the essence of each material he uses. For this series of paintings, the artist has arranged different brushes to make gradients of yellow-red, blue-yellow, and black-white. The artist achieves different colors such as orange, green and gray, becoming less of a chromatic quest and more the result of a process. In this single action, Ugarte explores some fundamentals of classical color theory.

The artist generates another series of works with the remnant and the same brushes used for the gradients. In a spirit of resourcefulness, he cleans the used brushes directly off a new canvas, to finally circulate them with their primary color partner. This action again illustrates the artist's working method, where the process or the tools often become the piece itself.