NARCISO MAISTERRA: PASSING THROUGH THE BODY WITHOUT STAYING

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4 NARCISO MAISTERRA: PASSING THROUGH THE BODY WITHOUT STAYING The artistic trajectory of Narciso Maisterra brings to us an uncommon form of painting within the panorama of the last five decades in North America and Europe. We find ourselves in the presence of an individual in a century of art movements, an expression coined by the art critic, Juan Bonet 1. Vanguard movements have always been by nature collective, normative and programmed, but they cannot be understood without individual outputs that question some of the untouchable concepts of modernism such as the rejection of the figurative tradition. Born in Palencia, Spain, Narciso Maisterra was educated in the fifties at traditional art schools and at the University of Madrid. This initial experience was followed by 20 years in the US which coincided with the birth of Pop Art and Hyperrealism there. His work moved from the Baroque tradition to a cautious association with the latest artistic tendencies. Maisterra was present at the birth and death of various vanguard movements, albeit from an independent position. He has always been a contemporary artist in the best way one can without trying. We do not find in Maisterra s work a compulsive need to follow the latest fashion or reflect current events. As such, his work lacks the restlessness that we find in most contemporary art. fundamental to this creative process which involves staging and photography. The human being becomes a marionette that is manipulated by a force outside the frame of reference of the painting. In another series the human body is deformed under the pressure of plastic wrap. Figures rest on top of green tables reminiscent of hospital stretchers. The body, converted into mere flesh, wrapped up like packages of meat in the supermarket, is imprisoned and is trying to free itself, to abandon the flesh, to go beyond the embryonic state and to achieve a spiritual existence. Light softens the forms like a second layer of skin. In both series the viewer is disturbed by the feet which are placed in the foreground, tense and deformed. Maisterra uses the feet as a metaphor for pain, drawing on a personal interpretation of Christian iconography. The image of Christ s feet, nailed to the cross, which he saw so many times as a child, has been etched into his memory. Only a life and artistic trajectory as complex as this one can combine in a single image references from the Baroque as well as from mass culture. Between 1968 and 1970 a number of personal events produced a dramatic change in Maisterra s work. The current exhibit presents yet another change of direction resulting from the central factor that has influenced art throughout history, beyond that of the market, philosophy or politics: life. a new direction for an individual in a century of art movements. The different periods of Maisterra s work have emerged from his own internal and natural inclinations without a rational filter. The great critic René Huyghe once said: Some people think that they are obligated to present only contemporary scenes or to reflect social or political problems; others, influenced by the industrial age, limit themselves to reproducing images of machinery; some, impressed by science, work only in an abstract vocabulary 2. Maisterra uses his own language which emerges from his personal vision of the world and of life. The current exhibit is more than just a collection of works; it is a testament to an emotional process of recuperation from illness via artistic creativity. In January of 2011, Maisterra had an accident that affected his physical appearance. As soon as he regained the use of his right arm, he resumed painting, and this was the key to his recovery. Maisterra decided to start a series of self portraits one self portrait a day for 18 days inspired by the ugliness and sadness he saw to create an unsympathetic image of himself. At the same time that the human body and disease have become a central theme of contemporary art, a magnificent series of 18 self portraits shows an artist using art as therapy to familiarize himself with his new face. Maisterra again becomes a contemporary in the best way that one can without trying like Francis Bacon, Zoran Music and Alberto Giacometi. The search to understand his own body took place at the same time as a change in the way he saw others bodies. Two series take up the study of intentionally deformed figures. Female nudes are tied up, suspended in the air, defying gravity, but maintaining light contact with the ground, thereby producing what seem like impossible poses and foreshortening. The participation of the model is Solo shows in U.S.A. and Spain Raúl Fernández Sobrino, Valladolid, 17 de mayo de 2012 Robertson Galleries, Portland, Maine West Shore Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island Attleboro Museum, Attleboro, Massachusetts Contemporary Artists Inc. Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island Broadlawn Gallery, Camden, Maine Assumption College, Worcester, Massachusetts Galerie Internatonale, New York, New York (three times) The Art Association of Newport, Newport, Rhode Island Baldwin Wallace University, Berea, Ohio Roitman and Son Galleries, Providence, Rhode Island Wheeler Gallery, Providence Rhode Island (two times) Anyart Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island. Sala Alfar, Palencia, Spain Galería Aele, Madrid, Spain (two times) Galería Benedet, Oviedo, Spain Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes, Santander, Spain Casa de Cultura, Torrelavega, Spain Galería El Convento, Torrelavega, Spain Pabellón de Artes Ciudadela, Pamplona, Spain Galería Municipal, Suances, Spain Sala Caja España, Palencia, Spain Sala Caja España, Valladolid, Spain Sala Caja España, Zamora, Spain Espacio de Arte Rinocero, Palencia, Spain Sala del Colegio de Arquitectos, Palencia, Spain (three times) - Sala La Paloma, Ayuntamiento de Madrid, Spain Museo Fundación Diaz Caneja Narciso Maisterra. La necesidad de pintar, Palencia, Spain. Group Shows in U.S.A. and Spain Farnsworth Art Museum, Farnsworth, Maine Galleria di Bellardo, New York, New York The Art Association of Newport, Newport, Rhode Island Providence Art Club, Providence, Rhode Island, (Kane Memorial Prize). Galería Aele, Madrid Casa de Cultura Artistas Palentinos Contemporáneos, Palencia, Spain Ayuntamiento de Palencia, Pintores Contemporáneos de Castilla y León and Palencia vista por sus Artistas, Palencia, Spain - Museo Fundación Diaz Caneja 25 Años de Arte Contemporáneo, Palencia, Spain. His recent work has been chosen for the 2013 Annual Solo Show of International Arts and Artists in Washington, D.C. at the Hillyer Art Space. Permanent Virtual Shows Triple Art Gallery and 1 BONET, J.M. ( 1997). Solitarios en un siglo de siglas en El oficio del artista II. Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y León. Págs HUYGHE, R. (1965). Introducción en El Arte y el Hombre, vol. 3. Barcelona: Planeta. Pág. 15

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