Paco Dalmau

Introductory Text, Catalog: Polyptychs Collection Family Portraits 2008/2011 

An exhibition, from its visual lexicon to its semantics, has the intention of conveying a message. That of Paco Dalmau, of the Museu de Vila-real, amazes us with its enormous portraits, their  expressiveness and their powerful impact. But this result, in which we recognize, immediately, his arduous work of implementation, has added a number of components that are allowing us to peer into the ultimate iconological truths, just under the painted skin of his subjects. It is these factors that communicate the depth of this artist. It begs us to strive to reach the entrails of his brush strokes, so to speak, as we try to communicate a little more intimately with the words of the mind, but to do this we need to immerse ourselves in the terms that make up this conversation.

In 2007, Paco Dalmau visited the Chuck Close exhibition at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid. Always an idolizer, he was ecstatic about being able to contemplate the work of a creator he considered a legend. He had, no doubt, consulted many books and researched his works on the Internet, but had never had the chance to see any of his creations live. It was like climbing the mountain of Zarathustra for him: he always declared that “it was a glorious exhibition that fascinated him to the level of shock.”  Paco Dalmau is passionate and emotional about his experiences, which he describes with a component of discursive rationality.

Leaving aside the nature and quality of resolution of each of these works, what really struck him was the monumentality of their formats. The exciting feeling of walking for two hours, between faces the size of bill boards, was an inspiring revelation that catalyzed his mind in pursuit of a parallel purpose, one of his own determination.

As he crossed the door to leave the old hospital of Carlos III, now a National Museum of Contemporary Art, he had already made up his mind to carry out the project we see today.

Once he got down to work, he contemplated the option of forming the faces using different materials to make up a polyptych, like pieces of a jig-saw puzzle, and he decided on a square format for each cell (25×25 cm and 50×50 cm) which give as the result an aesthetically balanced square area with a determinative, elegant finish. He made the separation of each piece variable between 1.5 and 3cm according to the polyptych.

Monumental portraits,  divided into a chessboard-type grid, individualising each section of face. This fragmentation technique, with precedents in the photographic work of John Coplans, is the key to this collection: in part due to the inevitable need of the gridwork to amplify the final image, and in part due to the potential for individualising each section as a work in itself.

We can sum it up as the potential for disintegration and symbolic mixture of the value of the face, its integrated dismemberment and the symbolism of this fragmented grid of representation of human countenance. But before achieving it, he had to obtain a significant number of models. In early 2008 he started imaging, with several shooting sessions of many members of his family in search of the final effigy for each work. He was interested in the family because of its proximity, but not in the emotional sense (that appears velis nolis in the appreciation of many of his strokes and can even be perceived in a look with exegesis).

The psychological profile is important, the person’s aura, their purpose of character, evident in features and expressions: the smile in the eyes, the inflection of characterize gestures of identification of ones own kind, attitude and intention. In other words, Dalmau wanted to set in their faces a certain purpose of psychoanalysis replacing the pen that takes notes with the brush that operates.

In the use of family members as models, the painter sought almost a tribute and a more honest representation, given the detailed knowledge of their characters. From there he moved on to a magnified symbolism, of his imposing grid paintings, with a certain claim to objectivity from the perspective of over-familiarity. A significant detail that deserves to be brought up is that all the photographs were taken in black and white. He was not interested in working with color images. He was looking, in principle, only for forms and values. The fundamental interpretive reference, creative, intentional and delving, is provided by the application of the different tones and the diction in both the faces and the backgrounds.

This is one of the basic keys of the exhibition: the development of color itself, to determine the property of each face. It is the result of the evocation of memories and impressions that evolve and also of an experience that is created as it is lived. He gives infinite qualities, in his brushstrokes, to the skin by his intelligent use of veiling which allows the skin to transpire through the epidermis in a variety of melted preparations of chromatic asphalt. In truth, his treatment of color is an ongoing investigation to obtain a variety of ranges and light.

Sometimes the passionate painter emerges as when he painted the hair of Maria IV (p. 71) with an abundance of material giving it corporeal qualities. If we add lighting effects and the lines that defined the locks, we could conclude that there is a firm pictorial proposition of expressiveness that could well be related to Freud and his expressionist realism of emphasized identifying diction.

In implementing the ideas no doubt there are many influences. The painter himself recognizes that in the making of the face, he takes into account the Renaissant artists da Vinci and Domenico Ghirlandaio for their serene elegance yet mysterious plots, and the contemporary realists Lucian Freud, David Hockney, Chuck Close, of course, for his frank expression and his attention to detail in the system and Chinese artists like Zhang Xiaogang and Yang Shaobin; the first for his serene face value and the second for just the opposite, the impetus of his motives.

In the background, the color has always been related to the coloring of the face, but when the painter had doubts, he turned to Francis Bacon, perhaps because he knew how to make a range  stand out.

Dalmau painted on the floor where he places his entire grid work with separations between each of the tiles that make it up, to get an idea of ​​the result of the combination of it all, its presence, its impact and integration of the different square cells into the pantheism of the integrity of the face. He cares about the succession of color, the continued

subtlety of the veiling, and an overall sense of order in the features, which combine to make up an effigy full of personality. But he knows very well that each of the squares that make up the panel is a work in itself. Each when separated from the whole must have its own identity, its own semantics and a specific peculiarity, ensuring that each one is genuinely expressive and evocative.

Dalmau is also well aware of the properties of the black that envelops every fragment of the puzzle and defines the separations, as the most suitable to make the luminosity of the image stand out in the foreground, its visual intensity taken into account in the construction or assembly of the whole, to ensure that the grid work itself stays firmly in the background.

Dalmau is well aware of the evolution of the History of Art, particularly the portrait and he chose a system that, while in the line of current photo-realism, is not without historical references. It is known that until the arrival of Impressionism, the concept and creation of the portrait seemed very simple. In fact, in his dictionary of 1863, Émile Littré, described it as «the image of a person created by means of any of the arts of drawing». It was a very simple axiom, which indicates that he was very clear about the definition. This is even more telling considering that this was a renowned thinker, a disciple of August Comte, which means that in his words he sought to make a very descriptive but decisive clarification.

I would also add the fact that he expounded on it with illustrative examples to justify his statement. With the emergence of the avant-garde, the concept of portraiture changed, both for authors and the public.

In fact, half a century ago, in the Encyclopedia Britannica, famous for the accuracy of its statements, the author of the entry «portrait» shows the ambiguity of meaning at the time when he wrote: «The portrait is an evocation of some aspects of a particular human being seen by another».

This definition makes it clear that it was no longer about reproducing a faithful likeness, but the embodiment of the memory of certain aspects, which were resolutely subjective in the first place, and that are filtered through the perception of he who foots the bill. This makes the scope for appraisal and comprehension unlimited, turning it into that opera aperta that the semiotic Italian, Umberto Eco, spoke about. From the portrait as a fair likeness of the model to a symbolic representation with a wide variety of possibilities of implementation, in which the viewer can read at many more levels and take a more active role in the discerning of the effigy that seems to negate all objective relationship with its model.

The presence of Pop and Photorealism came to deal with avant-garde assumptions, opening up the possibilities of portraiture to an even higher level. The presence of film and photography, were decisive in this respect, providing mechanisms for insight and understanding that were very different from the past. The  mass media conditioned the immediate necessity of the portrait with an informative push, which brought down the transcendent purpose that had always characterized the genre to “street” level. Right now, in the world encyclopedia or rather cosmological encyclopedia that is Internet, there is a plethora of photorealistic portrait painters with prodigious techniques of mimesis, which lead the contemplator to question the genuineness of the product, thinking that they are being presented with photographs.

Almost all of them were born in the sixties of the last century, ie the time when Pop became a landmark in the history of art and reached its pinnacle by the mid-eighties when it began to show significant derivations. It was the time when the influence of Chuck Close, Robert Silvers, Robert Bechtle, Franz Gertsch, Parrish or Lartigue…, began to manifest in new generations, establishing a considerable influence on the impeccable figurative diction, enhanced by the advertising boom in all its manifestations.

In light of these developments it has become clear that one can establish the proposition that reality and art have a very opposite nature. For young people mastering the art of reality posed a provocative challenge and there were many who accepted it. The large attendance and the extremely high quality referenced in the contemporary figurative painting competition of the Fundació de les Arts i els Artistes in Barcelona (with jury of the likes of Antonio López, Eduardo Naranjo and Rubio Nomblot) provides a case in point and makes it clear that the painters of the younger generation, is very interested in extracting new discursive possibilities from figurative painting.

Well, all this development has weighed on the design style of our artist as well as his own experiences, among which is a remarkable collection of large posters announcing première movies of nearly three decades ago, enormous billboards, increasingly insistent zoom effects in the movies and other references in the mass media that never cease to astound the viewer with the colossal grandeur of his effigies.

This monumental style of photorealism, which echoes Neo Pop, is extremely motivating, especially since it is accompanied by a deep psychological purpose, a study of the qualities and a symbolic purpose that scratches on certain connotations of turning his characters into archetypes. By their sheer size, the intentions of the gestures reach the level of the absolute in terms of obsessive psychological presence. He is not so much concerned with the imitation of a face, than the dynamism of its life, the awakening of its senses, the workings of molecules on the property of the skin, the intrinsic power of a look … The creating of this nexus is the essence of his work: the continual metamorphosis of matter and energy, from its apparent chaos, to its project of virtual life. The informal meaning of the flesh becomes the spiritual medium of form. The  Élan vital  prescribed by Bergson. Each line, in   the  diversity of color, comes from his intuition from a separate action that is outside the purpose of portraying and is within the purpose of painting.

In other words, the addition of territorial abstractions to achieve a formal order: adding cells to establish a face. It can be well appreciated in the circumspect human talent of Paco II (p. 31), or in the most taciturn of the first series of that name (p. 49), in the imperious gesture of Maria IV (p. 71), which contrasts with the absent sensuality from another painting numbered IV-2 (p. 43) or docile resignation of another character named likewise registered as III (p. 33), and even a third party with ordinal II (p. 39), with distressed, vacant eyes intimacy, or deceitfully jovial closeness of Jordi (p. 35), with his perception of the viewer from a high summit, the calm, sad stoicism of the matriarchal Maria I (p. 37) of wizened old face, furrowed by deep plowing furrows of time, the unflinching beauty of Belén (p. 41) just alive in her sea green eyes, in a profile reminiscent of aristocratic who painted Ghirlandaio Giovanna Tornabuoni  or the delightful familiarity, without any resort to artifice, of the artist with his dog (p. 57). There has been a lot of effort into the portrayal of individuals with a languid grin as if a reference to some sad moment – very appropriate to the times we are living, interesting species of an era.

Without doubt, Paco Dalmau is in the art of his time in his serial of purpose, in the same way that he has already scheduled to take on another another solo exhibition on the evolution of homo sapiens. The human being in its full dimension is an object of desire, and it is not at all dark.

In the collection of exhibits, a special mention apart is merited by Great family portrait (p. 59), which has managed to win all the accolades awarded by the prestigious contest Showcase Juried (ArtSlant.com) 2010 edition in the category Abstract in the United States, from among over 10,000 entries. It is worth enlarging on this information further since the works, just as in the exhibition of Paco II and Burton & Paco III (editions 2010 and 2011 respectively, category Mixed Media), also acheived the same reward in a statement of the competent artistic level of our artist.  In Great family portrait, unlike his companions, prominence is given to the supporting material, i.e. the squares, varying the design of the remaining polyptychs.

In effect these is the background which circumscribes the figure, significant and a point of attention in which, conversely, the complement is a simply drawn line image, or rather, sketched within one of two monochromatic routes with the intention that the foundation of interest is, the totality of the composition.

Total contemplation cancels the display of such sketches and then the surprise and unique attraction, resides in that as the beholder approaches, the characters suddenly appear portrayed in this checkerboard. In this piece, as well as various other sketches that were exhibited at the show, Paco Dalmau shows his excellent preparation in pencil drawing, a fact that should not be surprising given the excellent turnover of the portraits.

Thus, it is not fanciful that in this exhibition, we can admire some of these points which are more valuable than a simple initial outline. By their nature they are intentional and in their implementation determinative.

In this sense this Vila-real artist merely follows on from a long-standing historical tradition of procedures. We know that Ingres was a great painter of portraits, reminding us, because of the accuracy of his portrayal of his models, whose exceptional technique was based on such perfect drawings in pencil that in the history of Art, they are as well recognized as his easel paintings. This reference has also been affirmed by Holbein, Dürer, Clouet and many others, bridging the gap in levels with these geniuses of the past, and we could apply it equally to the work of Paco Dalmau, who also starts with an accurate, consistent line produced in such a way as to enforce its chromatic execution from the base. The artist pays homage to the classic Renaissance artists inscribing some of their evanescent drawings on a grid of Leonardesque inspiration. The canon. A reference that also appears in numerology and in the maintenance of the same number of quadrilaterals to make up the boards: 36. Pure cabal.

The exhaustive and direct line of his pencil, creates a strict categorical image of character and determination by its clean trace. Also in its sharp precision its definition of profiles is very strict but very characteristic, and full of essential authenticity. The painting of our time, abounds in this procedure as an absolute objective due to the enormous influence of design and photographic cyber technologies. But maybe Dalmau, in his mastery of the technique, aims to concentrate on this primary task of initiating the work on a character’s essence in its most pristine purity, untouched in its reference, outside of which nothing exists but emptiness.

The line determines an area, but being transparent, the pantheism of its environment remains there within its profiles. Being in space as a very component of it. The individualized character in its representation but integrated into its circumstantial environment due to the absolute determinism of the background color that it comprises. Do not forget that the pictures taken of the characters depicted in his polyptychs are taken in black and white, due to his interest in line work and the specific values it conveys. But apart from the drawing, it is worth calibrating the color value of certain constructivist intensity, collecting current design postulates of interior spaces (offices, TV studios, institutional centers….) and from architecture and, if you want something more immediate, from ceramic murals. A checkerboard (or, in this case, a chess board) has a symbolic relationshipwith the duality of elements having an extension (time) and therefore with destiny.

Precisely the different colored checkerboards modify heir symbolism according to the color. It is clear that in personal portraits and even in the total familiar abstraction of Dalmau family we find a vagary that goes far beyond mere form and leads to a purposeful Jungian, almost magical, symbolism, in that supernatural realm that always lies just behind the appearance of any face. It is to be found beyond the depths of each one.

Let us appraise the value of  the fragmented face as a puzzle, with many ways of rejoining the pieces and, even though only one seems to be the correct one, when any piece is out of place the effect is aggressive disorder. The law of harmony and that of entropy at the same time. The mystery of space, geometry and mathematics of the cosmic human being.

After visiting the room, the question hangs in the air. Where is the truth of the message? In our perception of the whole? In the individuality of every single frame? In the purpose? In the figuration with all its qualities? In the abstraction?… Dalmau leaves the door open. Each of us can appropriate a small plot in the great perceptual mystery of art.

Antonio Gascó Sidro

PhD in Art History, professor, corresponding scholar of the Royal Academies of Fine Arts of San Carlos in Valencia and San Fernando in Madrid