Ink revenes: Osear Domínguez
and the decalcomanie
oí desire
EMMANUEL GUIGON
The boundaries and the limits of this exhibition are defined
by a comprehensive title: Reveries of ink. They are, really,
dreams that stem from within, as Baudelaire might have said:
"les beaux réves de pierre". A programmatic title that aims
to establish who the great intercessors of the past were. In
1934, the same year that he made contact with the surrealist
group, the cañarían painter Osear Domínguez inaugurates his
new technique called, "decalcomanie without object", or,
"decalcomanie of desire", on the front cover of a book by
Eduardo Westerdahl published by Gaceta de Arte.
Obtained by pressure of one piece of paper on another, the
ink, watercolour or gouache stains turn into fabulous lands-capes,
of an extraordinary diversity, ressembling coral, rocks,
lava flows, conglomerations swept along by torrential rains.
In itself, it's a purely mechanical process that brilliantly
synthesizes one of the great challenges of contemporary artis-tic
thought: art, artistic event as chance happening. And it is,
because the artist, among other reasons, can perceive in it the
possibility of giving a more spontaneous appearance, a more
natural allure to the artistic act; the artist believes in it
because he tires of his role as conscious demiurge.
Here we recognize a very general experience, that of the fas-cination
that on our visión can exert an irregular series of
materials and colours, where, to begin with, we can imagine
the shape of a figure. In this, our contemplation is comparable
to a clear line drawn on a chaotic backdrop. Avoiding
the threat of indefinition, how could the painter give form to
an intelligible image? Frequently, the decalcomanies of desire
have been considered Osear Domínguez's contribution to
surrealism. Enthusiasm took hold of the group. All of its
members sensed they faced one of those discoveries that mar-ked
the history of the movement since its beginnings: auto-matic
writing, coUage, the exquisite corpse. There's a further
variant, "decalcomanie with premeditated interpretation", pro-jected
in the images that Domínguez created together with
Maree! Jean for the álbum they called Grisou, that remained
unpublished and whose plates are presented in this exhibition
for the first time. Later, Max Ernst exploited and enriched
these techniques, applying them to oils and producing, using
this process, some of the most important works of his so-called
"american period". And there were more artists sedu-ced
by the unexpected wonders revealed by these "ink reveries",
in particular, Hans Bellmer, Salvador Dalí, Georges
Hugnet, Yves Tanguy, Roland Penrose, Shuzo Takiguchi,
Remedios Varo. Through their often little known work the
exhibition shows us some singular worlds, gestures more or
less tragic or tender, sometimes comic. In other words, due
to its characteristics and mobility, to its internal dynamism
and to the wide range of the imaginary variations that it is
prone to, decalcomanie not only has enjoyed influence, impact
and artistic fame. It has produced the very stuff of dream.
AA-
Max Ernst. Serie Microbes. 6x5 cms. Gouache sobre papel. Col. Part. Foto:
Gerard Braida.
Modest Cuixart. Fando et lis, 1964. 31x24 cms. Tinta y collage sobre papel.
Col. Xavier Amir.
Max Ernst. Bosque de Arízoaa. 32x40 cms. Oleo sobre lienzo. Col. Prír.
Foto: Leron.
Max Bucaille. La locomativ Insurgée. 1950. 15x19,5 cms. Decalcomanía y
collage. Galerie 1900-2000. París. Foto: Marcel Lannoy.
ATLANTK^A
Atlántica: revista de arte y pensamiento
