Sign Series

Calligraphy of the Soul.

The language of painting changes with history, as it is testimony of the present and cannot escape current circumstances. I think, however, that the message that transcends of an artist is the one that can go beyond the present and touch a part of eternity. Humanity advances and so does art. Man evolves and so does the human mind. Therefore, art, genuine expression, inevitably reflects that.

Developing the look of the eternal observer enables us to go beyond linear time, enables us to be in harmony with the forces of energy. The gesture, in my work, must be synchronous with the universal beat, because if I cannot transcend myself, I am already dead. I think that a simple sound, a thump, would explain better than a thousand words the perfect time-space synchronicity that makes the gesture true.

Today man pulls down the frontiers of time and art, intuition is an integral part of our life, the symbol reveals itself and is no longer concealed, and we have access to places that were forbidden long ago. Art reveals the essence of things and of existence. Art narrates experiences of the soul. Art unconsciously uses sacred symbols as tools for deep spiritual dialogues. Art is at the service of our most evolved self to enlighten and raise consciousness on the most basic and elemental principles that shape our essence.

Primitive men, symbols, the universe’s alchemy and sacred books open up in unison to pull down physical frontiers and free ourselves from the linear thinking that limits our freedom. The “cultivated” gesture of an artist entails and condenses the force of the origin. The synchronicity of space and time with the source of origin opens the doors and frees us from the confinement of ideas.

Circle, cross, numbers, and graphism condense in my work, evoked from the unconscious, the most primitive forces possible. These elements must not be thought, they are given to the artist as their commitment is complete. The price is high, the doors are huge, and the path is long. The guardians of the threshold are present in every stage and they gently step aside when the work is successful. Evolution must be conscious, because work involves surpassing knowledge rather than surpassing the ego.

The construction of a work must start in a portion of the origin and must then connect with the perfect magic that reason cannot understand, but which cannot be reached if the path is not travelled. Point, line and plane, color, shape and texture, the possibilities of using them are endless, but each artist chooses how to work with this language. In my work, the language of the plastic arts (i.e., line, point, plane, graphism), together with action in the present, is condensed in the gesture, and the value is in doing it right. Symbol, matter and space-time condense to produce the work. Explaining the symbols is betraying their sacred power, thus I may only say that the cross is the divine encounter of opposites, that the cross condenses both life and death. I love seeing that opposites become one and that the matter accused of being rational, far from being that, generates the magic of existence.

This specific series is made on linen and the size of most paintings is 140 x 200 cm. This canvas is prepared with rabbit-skin glue, as it was done in the past, maintaining the appearance of the fabric one hundred percent.

In my work, unpainted space plays an active role in the composition, and the reduced palette pretends to make good use of and generate richness in an atmosphere of profound austerity. I pursue the simplicity of planes, the strength of the gesture, the orthodox symbols that keep cultures together. Austerity provides stability, and a playful game of construction and gesture frees me from conventions. White transmits purity, lightness, and black balances that extreme. Red is like blood, life. It is a rusty, composed, long-suffering, time-worn red that breathes new life into the austerity of neutral colors.

Aesthetic pleasure, emotional stability, no illusionism, pursuit of purity, of balance, of the essence, of the least I need to “be”… A stroke, a black pencil, the legacy of my gesture on the plane, the most pure graphism after all that has been learned, the power of the primitive essence after many years of painting the apparent, the superficial. There is no greater pleasure than the genuine expression as we return. I spent years drawing bodies so that the line spoke from the body of the model, the flesh. Today the focus of my work returns to myself, tells my own story for those who are willing to share it.

Cosmic articulation is revealed in planes, colors, lines and strokes. Energy condenses and is testimony of my process. Matter is symbol and the symbol is my own essence, for that reason, the gesture that I am presenting today is simply the calligraphy of my soul.

Rebeca Mendoza.