Pedro González in the deep of the wood

              with tlii! erown piece. Specialists have
sei'ii in tliis stvic. "...tlic most utterlv
revolutionan- way of thikiiig sculpture,
wliich is an esseruial charactcristic of
Braiicusi \
W(> have lo imagine Fieitas in ono of
thice eolleclive exhiliitions that in Paris
and Brussels might have allowed him lo
sludy ihose brancusian pieces ihat
developed the kindred model. Ferhaps
iniages sculpted in oak, ¡JÜ Quimera.
(1915). the Rey de Reyes. (1935). might
have helped him to vi,suahze that ovallv
perforated phnth at the same theoretical
height as the biomorphic head of the
nientioned works. when not as model for
the styhsed base that acts as phnth for
Recién Nacido. (1926). (Just Born). hi
this kind of base there is already a
strong indication of liow Plácido Fieitas
is going to evolve.
The formal artistic influences tend to
make up two different groups that the
scidptor develops in the 1950 s: the firsi
in quebracho wood, a hard material that
came from the argentinian Chaco and
which could be fotmd in the Puerto de la
Luz. the port of Las Palmas, among
other nutritional imports that Perón sent
to the islands bv wav of post-war
cooperatiüfi. In figures such as (juto^
(1952). and its series, the oval half-moon
that dominates the sculpture s
voliime is suKgested. (-rowned with
zoomorphic crests and a round central
perforation. The clegant curves that
Licitas produces in all the sculptural or
pictorial works tfiat date from that
epoch. repeat the oval (;omposition in a
series of elliptical hollows. with a
descending axis of incrcasing diametre
as it progresses outwards, iu at least six
known works.
Without overlooking in these
characteristics a certaiu influence from
Joan .Miró, especiallv in the more Hans
Arp-like facial fealures, we can otherwisc
safelv State thal in his phvsionomies the
imprint of Brancusi is decidedly clear. An
elliptical stvie ihat Licitas wont
abandon. allhough he will start lo
smooth out anv roughnesses and will
model transiiional curves that produce
streamlined surfaces. This happens witfi
the geomor[)hical sha[)es sculpted in
sandstone that he inade during the 60"s.
erroneouslv attributed to the influence of
1 lenrv .Vloore. Such attribution obviates
the slow process of self-definition that
rnarked Licitas s creative career. and
these works are the result of a personal
synthesis. of a svmbolic economv. that
entitle the sculptures of the period to be
esteemed as original, and not excessivelv
indebted to Henrv .Vloore. The pritnacv
of the central \oid or hollow, is a
culmination. as Lázaro Santana would
say, with dramatic and magical elements,
for, T'leitas is more interested in the
hollow as an invisible volume rather than
as a void".
Another fialf dozen works. (the
numerical vagueness is just another
consequerice of the chaos that still
surrounds the cataloguing of his work),
reinforce tfie suggestion. Those
Sculptures in ebonv. (19.58). with an
oval contour. that punch two
syminetrical oval fiollows in the piece.
running parallel or super-imposed. have
a vcry evident brancusian look aboul
them, as all the work in wood from that
period.
The affinities aren t apparemly
limited to a mere visual comparison of
his 50's and 60's series with the
pedestals and other parts of Brancusi s
sctilpture. as we can glimpse froiti the
photographs that the rumanian artisi
took himself in his studio, which has
been carefullv restored in the neigh-bourhood
of the (Centre (Jeorges
Pompidou. Brancusi in Fieitas can also
be seen in a broader coiitcxt of mutual
sources of inspiration. Both sculptors
were fascinated bv priniitive Black
African sculpture, a fascination that
seized many great beginning of the
centurv artists to develop into a vast
body of influeiu-e later on. There is a
brancusian figure of 1914. his
Carvatide. hieratic and self-conlained.
whose spirit Mellas seeins to reproduce
in one of his works. the iniage of an
african man whose feet are very
reminiscent of Brancusi.
Anvhow. both men refused the label
of abstract sculptors. The rumanian
arlist expressed il like this: "Those who
sav mv works are abstrae! are stupid.
for whal ihey cali abstract is realist, for
realitv is not tfie exterior form, but tfie
idea, the essence of tliings."' (.'?). Licitas
also incorjjorates this idea into his
praxis, and there are works bv him that
endorse the biomorphic theorv, bevond
the autoinatic descri|)tion of the tract ,
lliat will prove so SUCÍ'CSSI'UI in the
descriptive field, allhough conceptually
(•(mlested. For example. there is a work.
(in ebony or quebracho wood?). whose
solé graphic testimony is a pholograph
that shows it in the studio of the Calle
Torres. Las Palmas. (1973). h is a
volume oval in shapc. and with parallel
oval hollow insido.
The work endowed with lips. a pair
of arms and feet, like two inunense fins
that prop it up. makes us think that we
are beholding a métis fetish of a given
canarian ethnic type. that Licitas had in
a previous period popularised. and also
certain perceptible african suggestions.
einphasized bv the black hue of the
wood, (an innocenl kind of syrnbol in
Fleitas's essentialism).
Lndoubtedlv Fieitas succumbed to
the temptations of influence that certain
decisive sculptors of the early twentieth
(•entury posed. We have to recogni.sc that
thc.se stimuli enabled him to discover
morphological realities of nature.
already visible in other artists like
llepworth and .Nicholson. Let us accept
that what is perhaps most brancusian in
Licitas is that "tournant mysli(]ue", that
he was able to adapt without rnimetic
harshness. Brancusi. somehow, was
within fiiin.
PEDRO
GONZÁLEZ
IN T H E DEEP
OF T H E WOOD
BY CARLOS DÍAZ BERTRANA
The series of paintings that. with the tide
•The Viood". have been presented b)'
Pedro (González in Las Palmas, (Galería
Manuel Ojeda), and in Tenerife, (Círculo
de Bellas Artes), dispel any lingering
doubls as to the ftinction of anccdoic in
his art: rnerely iiTelevant Whether it is
the sea. llie wood, an interior, a still lile,
a portrait or abstraction. the paintmg ol
Pedro González adapts the subject to a
structural concept of pictorial space.
as
ÜI4
Vi liat inalTors ¡s exaclly wlicre llie
patclit's of lolüiir fall and liow (lie parís
transforin iiito seiisibility. It isn l so
iniich a quostion oí'paiiiling lieos bul onc
of recogMising liis painling in llie woods.
A liiniticss foros! lliat wc carry
within US and which iho artist has hoon
oxploring for niany yoars. lio elarifios
(•onco[)ts, ajiists setitiinonts to idoas.
incor|)oralos ihern into pictorial
languago with talont and iniagination.
and lolls us all aboiil wliat ho
oncounlers. with tlio pasión of ihe
sincero artisi who knows ihal falsohood
can'l dweil in painting. The loavos lalk.
roveahng dio artisi s niotivation. a
roinantic boing for whoni nature and
conscioiisnoss aro inseparable
nianifostations. Iinage doosn t ropresonl.
it iniorprols existonce. Novalis wrolo: tho
socrot way ruiis inwardly.
Podro González creatos an iinaginary
wood, forged b\' oblivion and desiro. A
paintorlv hoiind wood. snbject lo its
oinotive and formal svntax: what niatlors
is the pictorial ossenoe of llio work. how
tho artist resol ves iho pictorial probloins
and assiiines coiirago. Podro González
ihinks tliat "what niattors aboiil a
paintor isn'l what ho is saying. bul rather
how Rnbens finds tho solution lo a
painling whore throo suspended bodios
appoar. or how Volázquoz lackles ihe
redness of a floor. The sea or tho woods
are excusos for painling. and nothing
elso. Fnrthorniore. ihov re nol roa!, tho
iniago is invontod. Frankiy I continuo lo
be an abslract [)ainler. Tho ihiiig is ihal
il is oasv in iny inosl rocent works lo
idonlifv llie colour áreas."
Tliis quolalion is rovealing as lo ihe
[)ainlor s working praxis, of painting as
a living and seH-siifficiont organisni, lo
which he has lo add liis personalitv. An
ordored will thal trios lo setllo chaos, an
oxislenlial slanco thal is ongaged in ihe
crealion of now iniages. an offort to
traiisform idoas into visual, exisloiitial
ttielaphors. I lis painlings. othor than
boing a rofloction on painling and its
tochriical })ossibilities aro iniages of
infinilv. of tho untiring moveinenl of
ihings and ideas, of a global lile visión
thal doos nol sloj) al sinall dotail.
In his painling tho artisi doesn'i
allow the troos to hido tho wood froin us:
in a sonso, what wo seo aro sketches,
general notos rather than spocific
definilions. I lis work can be soen. can be
ininlerprotod and conslrued as a whole,
for tho parís servo tho spirit of slnicturo.
When tho idea is olear, ihon iho olomonts
have a sul)()rdinalo role. The woods of
Pedro (ionzájez aren 1 tho leaves and iho
Irunks. it is tho forest in itsolf, tho
concepl of the wood, the abslract and
precise iniago ihat tho word "wood"'
evokes. Tho olomonts ihoroin contained
nuist be presenl. ihev are formal parts of
the discourse. .Nothing is graluiloiis.
allhough everything is iiitorchangeable,
tho rolo of a birch tree can be perfoclK
takon on by any biisli. in the hoarl of the
woods. tho pulsalions are so iinmense
that they ongulf all things. And. ihough.
like in the fraclal iniages of tho
ln)logram. a parí reproduces the whole. it
is nonolholoss tho concepl of the wood
thal proves all-unifying.
It is thal same dislanl gazo that
conlemplatod tho sea and didn'l miss tho
wavos. with thoir foaniv and liquid
presenco: vet il triod in effecl. lo mako
US feol the essonce of tho sea. Now. in a
similar wav, ho invites us to unravel the
forost. to mako oul what lies concealed
in its lorluous shapes. lo experionce
what imago really is. Lot's forgot aboul
tho anecdotal. if wo wanl to penétrate
lilis wood thal is his own as well, don't
count ihe acanthus leaves, listen to iheir
inner hearlbeat.
To pul all of those ideas and maiiv
others on the canvas is tho painter's
ambition. In an opoch that is enthrallod
by the appearance of lliings it is hard lo
look deeper, lo sort oin the leaves in
order to feel the tree. Anecdotes impose
thoir virluality on essenco. The décor of
the labio and the cosí of tho menú all
too often diminish the importanco of
culinarv pleasure. Let's nol swailow. wo
should tliink and feel, interpret and
chango whal wo disliko. Lol's nourish
our cholee, we should take from the
wood that which aids our dovolopmenl.
says Pedro (González and his painting.
Ihe shape of things guard thoir identitv,
and in the discovery of what grants
theni consistencv there aro manv
offshools. Don't stop al tho obvious, at
tho wood. As Luis Sepúlveda s indians
say, "During the day there is man and
tho jungle. Al nighl. man is the jungle''.
^>.^^(^^>
'I
INEZVAN
LAMSWEERDE
FASHIONING
THE HUMAN BODY
BY B E N J A I V I I N W E I L
In H.(¡. Wells The Time Machine, the
Iravelling scionlisl has conceived such a
device lo take a journov into time
looking for a state of civilizalion when
hunians live in peace and harmonv
among eacli olher. when doslniclivo
impulsos have beon rulod oul, and when
onlv conslruclivo energios reinain: a
dream for the return to the Golden Age
of huiTiankind. Altor nuinerous attempls,
ho lands in the 21st eenlury, when he at
firsl ihinks he finallv has discovercd
what he has beon looking for: young and
healthv looking blond poople all dres,sed
in whitc seem to be living in a slalo of
leisurelv peace. Unforlunalelv, he later
finds oul thal lliose people have no sense
of community - thev would not reseñe a