Pedro Paricio at the Halcyon Review

Spanish born painter Pedro Paricio is currently exhibiting a new body of work
entitled Shaman at Halcyon Gallery. The show consist of of twenty five new
images, all of which are gallant, graphic and colourful.
The work is lively and cool. Paricio is exploring in depth the tangible and sensory
connection of the body to the spiritual world. The exhibition demonstrates a
systematic and stiff approach to painting; with a limited amount of techniques
constantly revised across the whole body of work. There is little risk-taking and
for the most part his forms are rendered in flat colour with hard, masked edges
and little trace of brushwork. He fills sections of the image with multi-coloured
geometric shapes that act as a wallpaper or backdrop. The scraped technique is
mostly applied to the skin of the subject in luminous paint and is imaginably
envisioned to represent the artists soul or characteristics.
Paricios artwork is about contrasts of colour, unlike many other artists his
evolution has led him from the abstract towards a tendency for the figurative. He
doesnt mess around with perception or with shadows, but faces us with a
geometric and flat space with links to the endless artists who have used this
style in the 20th century, like a modern day Francis Bacon with the faces morphed
and distorted but in a such a delicate and orthodox way. He said Self-portraits
allow me to reflect in two directions, I can speak about myself but at the same
time about everyone else, because we are all different and yet we are all the
same. You and I are we: two sides of the same coin. Its also a question which
touches on honesty and personal truth both of which are fundamental when it
comes to art: without truth there is no work of art. My self-portrait is now my
truth. This body of work is part of an exploration into self-reflection, the
collective subconscious and the transcendental nature of art.
Paricio acts as a catalyst for self-reflection, he is also a paints dreams which take
the form of the original and imaginative scenes within these works. Dreams are
not only what we inhabit when we sleep, they are also fantasies, desires and
fears, both what we are hopeful for and what we are oblivious to. Though dreams
are subconscious, they are also a reflection of consciousness. He explores ways
in which artwork can become mystical uninfluenced by the fashions and
temporary satisfactions of the present-day. In trying to realise the eternal
mechanisms of art historical masterpieces, he seems to endeavour to carve out
the common element, ignoring place or time.
I actually spoke to the Pedro when I was having a talk in the Halcyon gallery, he
told me that each piece took six weeks to complete, he works consistently and
he also told me his favourite food was red wine which made me like him a little
bit more.