Caelis Galería is delighted to announce the solo exhibition Reach Out by Spanish artist Jaime Sancorlo, which will be held from August 22nd to September 28th, 2023. The exhibition showcases a series of oil paintings depicting the adult world as a playground of irony. Born in 1980, Jaime Sancorlo primarily focuses on exploring texture and expressing color. Drawing inspiration from historical black-and-white photographs from difficult periods, he injects a playful and witty touch of cartoon characters to create a juxtaposition of surreal, pop, and ironic elements, leading to a meaningful artistic experiment.
The thirteen artworks presented in the exhibition evoke a serene and quiet wilderness, seemingly untouched by the smoke of war. Each canvas presents a unique theme - from leisure and practice to rescue and armistice - infusing the difficult times captured in the photographs with a soft touch of life and vibrancy. Before settling on these themes, Jaime meticulously selected from an impressive array of images, choosing those that deeply resonated with his soul, expressing his contemplation of the cruelty and absurdity of war.
Through his astute artistic prowess, Jaime skillfully transforms the language of photography into a hyperrealistic painting language, prompting profound questions about the interplay between reality and the influx of popular symbols in our collective memory. Engaging in this thought-provoking exploration, visitors are encouraged to ponder which portrayal comes closest to the truth of the depicted events and to what extent their participation shapes their panoramic perception. At the heart of this artistic dialogue lies a subtle dance of replaced characters and newly birthed scene vignettes, sparking a fresh interplay with the original lens. This artistic montage empowers viewers to naturally fill in the missing narrative pieces, eagerly unraveling the tales suspended within each frame.
Behind the layers of historical fragments, Jaime Sancorlo pays tribute to the meticulous detailing of hyperrealism. At first glance, his artworks usually present an aged and somber black-and-white color palette. Yet, beneath the surface, the coarse texture and sharp edges reveal a transformative process of selective treatment, transcending mere reproduction to become an embodiment of carefully chosen authenticity. The Gestalt aesthetics offer an interpretative entry point to this phenomenon of ambiguity, where the stimulating patterns are "different from one's experience" yet "connected to it." This maximizes the triggering of perceptual exploration, as described by Gombrich as intertextuality. The "too close" experience brought by realism, in turn, fosters a physiological sense of unfamiliarity, piecing together composite fragments of multi-sensory input, replacing the conventional mental images with the meanings conveyed by the objects.
Delving deeper into the exhibition's themes, the personas encountered amidst these trying times are adorned with military signifiers, mirroring the somber aspects of adulthood. The acid-colored cartoon elements reference electronic games and American movies, pointing to a forgotten childhood, expressing the loss of innocence and contemplation of its reasons, and attempting to find a trace of a smile amidst the serious military environment. Jaime's artistic craftsmanship, blending restrained and faithful depictions with humorous assemblages, extends an empathetic hand to the numerous harsh realities, encouraging viewers to strike a harmonious balance between introspection and distance. By embracing the past and present, we can build profound consensus, awakening a newfound depth within ourselves.