la BEAST gallery is thrilled to present ‘SOUVENIRS,’ a solo presentation of oil paintings by celebrated muralist Abel Macias. Unlike traditional landscape painting, this body of work delves into the sensory experience of what it’s like to absorb nature through synesthetic eyes. Macias
emphasizes space not through the use of light and shadow but through the simplification of pigment and pattern. He suggests that the act of gazing upon the world is much like flattening an image into a visual quilt. The ensuing blanket is succinct yet fascinating; a true deconstruction of
texture, color compatibility, and inner-reflection. “Too much information is never a good thing.”
What is particularly striking about Macias’s approach, is his philosophy on ‘seeing’. “When I am out in nature, my instinct is to scan the landscape and summarize it quickly.” Pushing through his optical biases, Macias entertains the notion that his paintings are not merely meant to be examined from his point of view but to be experienced from a more universal lens. He actively zooms in and out of focus, capturing both the grandeur and the minutiae of his subject matter. The result is a complex overlay, where background and foreground disappear, and the space between objects no longer exists.
Characterized by rough, gestural brushwork, each painting starts with the creation of a textured ground, reminiscent of the stucco walls often seen in his larger works. This preparation feels important, demonstrating a keen connection between his well known mural practice and his explorations in the realm of fine art painting. The works on canvas feel different; somehow exuding an aura. Unencumbered but also quite contained, these compositions fracture natural forms, reassemble the constituents, and present enchanting kaleidoscopic gifts.
The bridge between realism and memory is a tremulous and strange place. Oftentimes, the world behind our eyelids, though a reflection of our surroundings, only shares the compressed truth; filled-out yet beautifully distorted. Source reality, it seems, is just a starting point, a beginning, on
a long road of rendered experiences. “These landscapes are my souvenirs. I make paintings of magical places—that smell of being there—the swirl of senses that encapsulate being somewhere extraordinary.”
