This lecture was about Carmelo Ortiz de Elgea, who is a
contemporary Bask artist from Spain. Carmelo’s medium is painting, which he
usually will jump right into without sketching which is out of the ordinary for
painters. His work is based off of nature, which ranges from the landscape he
has around him in the Bask country as well as what he has observed in the
United States.
Carmelo is from the southern part of
the Bask country, however he does not speak Bask but instead Spanish. Although
Carmelo identifies himself as Bask culturally and in his art, he was not
allowed to learn the Bask language because when he was growing up there was a
war going on and the Bask people were not allowed to practice their culture. However, this didn’t stop Carmelo from
observing great Bask artists around him as he was growing up.
When viewing Carmelo’s exhibition it
is easy to see his attention to color and detail, as well as the texture he gives
to it. Carmelo has said that he wants to create nature, but not just any
nature, his nature. Carmelo successfully creates his own nature with his use of
color and his style of painting which is slightly abstract due to his choppy
brushstrokes. Carmelo has also teamed up with other famed Bask artists such as
Basterretxea and Zumeta in exhibitions, combining their ideas with his.
Based on the fact that he does not
sketch and jumps right into his paintings shows his unique way of thinking as
well as his talent. Viewers of his art can easily get lost in his paintings of
nature in that they are so different from reality yet calming in their
differences. I admire Carmelo’s take on nature and his art, it is beyond
stunning and irreplaceable.
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