Juan Iribarren, Untitled, 2016. C-print. Untitled, 2016. C-print. Untitled (Split Format 2), 2017. Oil on linen. Untitled (Split Format), 2017. Oil on linen. All works courtesy of the artist and Cecilia de Torres Gallery.
Juan Iribarren, Untitled, 2016. C-print. Untitled, 2016. C-print. Untitled (Split Format 2), 2017. Oil on linen. Untitled (Split Format), 2017. Oil on linen. All works courtesy of the artist and Cecilia de Torres Gallery.
Juan Iribarren, Untitled, 2016. C-print. Untitled, 2016. C-print. Untitled (Split Format 2), 2017. Oil on linen. Untitled (Split Format), 2017. Oil on linen. All works courtesy of the artist and Cecilia de Torres Gallery.
Juan Iribarren
From its beginnings, my work has explored the perceptual and relative essence of circumstantial light. The colors and shapes in my paintings are informed by atmospheric situations, specifically the ever-changing interaction of light and shadows on the walls of my studio, its edges and surrounding windows, plus the sky beyond. Registering these transient events requires constant alterations and the resulting segments of gestural brushstrokes and the different viscosities of the layered oil paint generate a system of fractured edges and pools of color. Simultaneously, apparent geometric structures emerge on the paintings. These come from window frames or other architectural detail shapes, which I trust to formally anchor what can appear to be random accumulations of traces or surfaces, but which are in fact moments of representation.

Progressively eliminating formal elements in my paintings, as well as getting rid of diagonals (in order to minimize any semblance of a linear perspective) other than the ones produced by the movement of the brush while painting, I am left with works made up of fields of light/color, bisected and/or framed by structures of an apparent hand-painted geometry. These recent paintings still carry the sense of perceptive truth, while simultaneously reading as abstract works. It is this apparent contradiction that I consider makes my work unique.
Time is obviously an important concept in my work. The recording of transient events like light and air in the work, and the resulting layering of paint mentioned above, bears witness to the passage of time. Furthermore, a number of years ago, as I worked on paintings through many hours during the same day, I realized I had to make more than one version of the same “scene” there were so many changes taking place throughout the day. Eventually I decided on a series of diptychs, one painting done during daylight hours, the other during the evening. Invariably, the two versions appear as completely independent events, though I choose to show one alongside the other, witnesses of time.

In QI 2018 I will be showing another type of diptych, in which both works seem to be painted simultaneously. They share the same light and structure, as if one painting were the continuation of the other. In order to underscore the repetition, and at the same time make the whole scene turn onto itself, once I finished the paintings I decided to invert one of them.

At some point I began taking digital photographs of some of the visual elements present in my paintings, and showing the photographs alongside the paintings. Immediately I noticed how they both record the light circumstances as well as underscore the geometry present in the paintings by bringing them together into a flat image. I next proceeded to photograph actual light and shadow falling on the paintings themselves and their effect on painted color, juxtaposing painted and observed light/color, thus adding one more layer to my perceptually based abstraction.
Even though the finished work can come across as pure abstraction, it is important for me to stress here the representational perceptive quality of my practice.

Drawing is also an important element in my practice. Paintings are always done before the drawings. I start painting without any previous sketch or study, as this allows me the freedom I require to make changes as I follow a sensation or presence that is barely palpable in formal terms. At some point, and for some of the paintings, I will do a version (graphite on paper, recently) of the painting itself, in order to find graphic shape and value equivalents to the evanescent half-floating fields of the painted canvas. In fact what I do is a study of the painting where its graphic qualities allow me to the see the light, density, and distance captured, as an image for the first time.
Long Island City, Queens is where my studio has been located for the past 25 years. It is the place of that private detailed observation my work requires, and the container of that ever-changing light that feeds my painting, drawings and photographs.

It is in the sheer plurality and richness of the social fabric of the artists working in Queens where I sense the first and obvious connection to the term volumes. I also identify with other meanings such as (what I consider) the almost encyclopedic subjective register I perform of atmospheric conditions, light, density, and distance in my painting. It is the repertory of the traces contained in these volumes which constitutes my work.
Juan Iribarren (b. 1956, Caracas, Venezuela) received a BFA from American University, Washington, DC (1978). He furthered his studies at the Université Paris 1 (Panthéon- Sorbonne), Paris, France, where he obtained a Maîtrise d’esthétique, followed by a DEA (Advanced Studies Diploma) in 1982. Iribarren’s solo exhibitions have been exhibited at Cecilia de Torres, Ltd. New York, NY (2018); Carmen Araujo Arte, Caracas (2016); Galeria Leme, São Paulo, Brazil (2013); Henrique Faría Fine Art, New York, NY (2011); Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX (2004 and 2002); Museo Alejandro Otero, Caracas (2001); GaGa, New York, NY (1998); Sala Mendoza, Caracas (1994); Galería de los Espacios Cálidos, Ateneo de Caracas, Caracas (1986). Selected group exhibitions have been exhibited at Carmen Araujo Arte, Caracas (2017); Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ (2015); São Paulo Biennale, Brazil (2012); Henrique Faría Fine art, New York, NY (2010); Centro Cultural León, Dominican Republic (2008); Casa de América, Madrid (2007); El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY (2005); Americas Society, New York, NY (2005); Museo de arte Contemporáneo Sofía Imber, Caracas (2004); Galeria de Arte Nacional, Caracas (1997). He works in Long Island City, Queens.
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