CAMPO POLICRNICO

FROM FREEDOM TOWARDS A NEW REALITY

For some time I have become increasingly concerned with how to face the act of painting and
painting in general from an internal stance which is as free as possible. Taking various things
into account, amongst others; that we live in a society prone to rules and regulations and a
structuring of the way we live and think, that complete freedom doesnt exist, (even though
there still remains the possibility of achieving it), and that the desire for freedom isnt enough
to protect a language which is inexplicable because of its distance from reality.
In this way, my work starts out from reality, inspired by the visual reality which testifies to the
life force of the city, with special attention and interest in the wall and its graffiti, for the
freedom and spontaneity of these expressions and for their connection with the "popular";
being more interested in their idea, visual concept and for the attitude they express, rather
than for the formal expression of what they represent.
Before continuing I would like to refer back to my previous work as it bears an important
relation to understanding what I am doing at the moment. (1)
In the work of the last few years, this search for freedom came about through destruction; the
work grew out of destroying what had been created, using a sanding machine to manipulate
the picture surface and recreate something totally different. An act of correction, of
rectification of what had just been made; a negation which would lead to an affirmation with
the intention of creating a new reality, which found its affirmation in a tangible or to be more
precise intangible result, as the result was a texture of emptiness. In other words, in taking
away the paint matter is denied, but is inversely affirmed through its own negation. This
process culminated in the series "Correction".
The process of confronting painting through the use of the machine was fundamental because
it allowed me to distance myself from the paint, to paint without any control on my part; in
other words, as if was painting from outside, without the conditioning of the presumably
pictorial. This impossibility of control allowed the work at the same time to reveal itself from
its own condition and nature, unequivocally showing chance as a fundamental element in the
work; which is to say, without a pre-established control it can achieve freedom.
The act of painting with the machine was important as long as the result of its use didnt
question the painting and that it kept its own freedom; but in the end it became an obstacle,
as the method of working became excessively necessary, so that, finally, it began to limit the
painting itself because of its dependence on the process. It was at that moment that I decided
to finish the series Correction.
From then on, having rejected the machine, I understood that the only way to confront
painting from a position of freedom, without control over the work and allowing it to attain
the desired condition of chance-freedom, is automatic spontaneity.
The starting point for the work Im doing at the moment is reality, (I consider that my work is
more "realist" than expressionist, in that it doesnt start from an idea or inner impulse, but
instead from an external experience), specifically, the city which manifests itself in its walls of
graffiti, which reflect the living pulse of urban society. I have always wanted to express myself
and communicate through painting; its for this reason that I have chosen graffiti as a basis for

my pictorial work, for the simple reason that its a popular universal form of expression which
can be seen everywhere in the daily life of the city.
From the visual experience of this living reality, in the act of painting, I undertake the work in
an automatic spontaneous fashion; in this way, there is no script to guide the work, the
process of painting is direct and fast. Its as though in the moment in which I am painting there
is a channeling of experienced visual reality towards the canvas; the aim is to transform this
reality into painting.
In confronting the act of painting like this it allows me the freedom to work in such a way that
I can keep the necessary distance from the picture or from the pictorial so that, in the instant
in which Im painting, the picture declares itself without pictorial, strategic, formal or rational
considerations; in other words, like painting a picture from a distance with the objectivity
necessary to avoid being involved or conditioned by the subjective idea of the picture. The
objective is the painting, but maintaining the necessary distance from I the painter.
Ive titled this series, "Campo Policrnico". Campo - field, as well as the spatial sense of the
word, in this case also refers to a determinate space where a whole visual world exists, relating
to, amongst other things, the optical and the virtual. Policrnico is a word which has to do
with the multiple and variable, and also, with time (crono) and with graphic art and writing
(crnica).
I see my paintings as fields; spaces where multiple energies, elements, concepts, actions,
tensions, dictions and signs are revealed, each simultaneously, expressing his own pictorial
identity, but, at the same time, also forming a harmonious whole with all the others.
(1) In this part I am quoting a previous piece of writing which is necessary to explain the
current work.

Pablo Rey, Barcelona, Autumn 2000