Light silences
África Juan. Or should I say, just África, is a Mallorcan landscape artist who is strongly tied to her native land. She discovers a nature in it where the artist deeps to understand its secrets and which is revealed in her canvases such as views of sea, mountains, trees, rocks….protagonist themes which flood her work.
The intense Mediterranean sun reflects in her landscapes, turning colours into blues, violets, greens,…. loyal palette which accompanies the seascapes. This encircling light shows a gleaming, transparent, calm and still atmosphere, which depicts great artistic feeling and let us feel the personality of the artist.
Africa’s work is perceived in learning by drawing, the control of the stroke, the presence of the line, which is noted on the boat´s sails, both still or in movement. Not in vain, an important part of her work is dedicated to people´s portraits. Maybe because of an affective nearness and intuitive intelligence, the artist knows how to capture, with great wisdom ,the physical features and soul of the person portrayed.
For a better observation and delight of the picture, the spectator should stand some distance away to see the perspective and so, even if there seems to be a paradox, he or she would be imbued with the atmosphere of the landscape in such a way that he or she would think it is an invitation to the calmness and warmth of the Mediterranean.
A pictorial evolution is observed in the series called ¨cavities¨ , releasing herself from the ( typical) line and sketching. Everyone can note a disposed artist to extend the chromatic palette. Rocks are vibrant. rugged, almost phantasmagorical which are further from the pleasant realism of the seascapes and closer to abstraction. It is a search of new textures, of new tactile values, which is achieved with a thicker mixture of paint, mixed with sand, marble….combining with paintbrush and spatula. It is a brave artistic incursion by means of different aesthetic routes , but always under the subjective eye of the artist.
África is on the solid and right way of art, on the search of pictorial maturity, inquiring into artistic paths in which she knows, it is a large creative process in which possibly the end will never be reached.
Elena Conde León – Graduated in Art. 2008
