Artes y Letras. EL MERCURIO.

Art Critique
Chiuminatto, Concha and Claro:
Waldemar Sommer

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A typical pictorial theme, landscapes, has been interpreted in three different
ways by two female artists, in “Instituto Cultural de Las Condes”, and by a male artist
with trajectory, in “Sala Gasco”. This last painter mentioned, Pablo Chiuminatto, shows
new perspectives of an argument to which he has maintained himself loyal to. In this
way, he puts in comparison his recent panoramic series from 2006 with his sepia
photography from 1998. Yet, unlike all human attendance, the same protagonist results
to be much more subjective through the delicacy of watercolor, gouache or oil in
diverse degrees of monochrome painting. The fickle dynamism and the capital
importance of brightness and darkness, allows discussions about suggestible paintings
of light. And next to the emphasized luminosity, the strong synthesis that translates the
visual and mental painter’s sensations, starting from the variations about countryside
panoramas, Central-Chile’s archetypical, finish by placing a significant amount of them
in abstract atmospheres. The illustrations and canvases oscillate between the yet
figurative –three vigorous “Otros Paisajes”– and the abstraction of twelve cardboards –
“Atlántico”– poured through a well developed, and a rather colorful transit from night
to broad daylight.

Similarly to Chiuminatto, one of the exhibitionists of Las Condes chooses as a
subject and artwork, the conventional Chilean landscape. This refers to the young
painter, Maria José Concha. The close physical vicinity with her exhibition colleague
turns the comparison inevitable. In Concha’s case, black, gray, and raw ochre are her
colors, used for the wild scenery of Southern Chile. Although she tends to withdraw from
the recognizable, there is no lack of dense foliage with a tormented tree upon it –which
resembles those of Isabel Saa– or mountainous masses accusers of realism. Its making,
prodigal in drips and stains, offers a certain coarseness that underlines the dramatic
character of these oil paintings on canvas. Nevertheless, the most interestingly personal
of this author is the very graphic and little figurative “Patagonia gris y blanca”, from
2007.

Being completely different from the previous painter and Chiuminatto, in the
same institute, Patricia Claro proposes indeed original visions of the landscape. Still,
calm, lyrical, its intimate corners knowing how to synthesize the aquatic softness, the
light upon it and from it, the peculiar vegetation adapted to the water, converting
them in the most united natural ensemble. Notwithstanding her particular landscape
spirit, all of the above are enough to transmit with plentitude the deep sensation of
finding ourselves wrapped by a global nature, valid for anywhere in the world. Yet in
the same way, these faultless canvases with acrylic and oil, predominating green and
blue, show different closeness to the model.

In this way, the four paintings in a smaller format, from 2005, lean towards an
abstraction with an intense ornamental meaning. In one of them, at the same time, the
defined texture takes away the softness and calmness, typical of this artist.
On the contrary, the bigger these paintings get, the more they connect to
realism. For example, in the majestic “Corte I, II and III”, from 2007, those who stood out
by harmonious aquatic waves, in a certain measure, demonstrate their indisputable
beauty with Simon Este’s notable hyperrealism.

After the calm and quiet that provoked the previously mentioned landscapes,
passing by the “Instituto Las Condes”’ to the showrooms exhibiting the most recent
World Press Photo, means for the spectator to submerge in the most chattering and
anecdotal present time. Violence rules in it. And it is about the violence in relation to
today’s wars; also through the amusement of sports, nature, and the attitude in the
personal story. Nevertheless, other than the condition eminently journalistic and
documental of these photographs, there are some good shots. To mention the
outstanding, in that manner, the North American, Spencer Platt; the Israeli, Oded Balitz;
the Norwegian, Espen Rasmussen, the only participant who was capable of expressing
hope.

Key
Pay close attention to the sensorial calm beauty that Patricia Claro obtains in her
personal interpretation of the landscape.