Nicolas Lopez is a young Peruvian watercolorist now consecrated as a great artist of international level with numerous awards and recognitions. With his presence at the inauguration of an exhibition of some of his works in the artists’ room of the Caffè Lurisia in Mondovì on Saturday 4 May, the venue adds another prestigious painter’s name to those already numerous hosted over the years.
Appreciated for its delicacies, it is also a cornerstone of Montreal art known far beyond national borders.
In the technique and poetics of Nicolas Lopez, water is “vital”. From it the painting comes to life materially and spiritually. The artist moves the canvas in such a way as to make it flow according to his creative idea of it, and in the end he witnesses the “effect” produced by it, perhaps with a little surprise. Of the rich color palette this painter uses only black and white. White is the background of the paper or canvas. The two colors are enough to create and transmit emotions, communicate sensations of freedom, of peace, in some figures perhaps even a bit of resignation.
Water in the work is always in the foreground, rarely calm, it falls from the sky in heavy rain, in tumultuous storms, it creates, destroys, overflows. It wraps the subject in a thin veil or imprisons him in an inextricable web. Even human figures are in a kind of symbiosis with it; overwhelmed and distorted by wind-lashed rain, they emanate an almost magnetic charm in abstract glances that implore and give peace.
Nicolas’ art favors the effect that arises from the composition of his work over the subject. Through the eyes, emotion reaches the heart even before the mind. Anyone who looks at the painting is in a position to “start” even before understanding, as if struck by a slight trauma. Sometimes the subject, placed at the back of the scene, or in a secluded position, in landscapes of very white light contrasting with black and dark shadows, forces the viewer to ask problematic questions in a Kafkaesque atmosphere. Questions that the artist has been able to raise and that await answers.
The message of this great artist who from Peru brought his “water” and just two colors all over the world, and with these he “built” masterpieces, is an exhortation to peace and freedom. And justice and equality are not unrelated to these values. They are universal values, present in the hearts and minds of everyone, where the emotions aroused by Nicolas’ paintings arrive. To try them, everyone is warmly invited to see them in the artists’ room of the “Caffè Lurisia” in Mondovì.
They are exhibited from 4 May to 6 June 2024 from 10am to 8pm (closed on Wednesdays). The spiritual and artistic effect will certainly be rewarding.
