NUMERO UNO MAGAZINE - Autumn 2001
Seasonal Publication, Sydney Australia

SYMBOLIC REALISM

When artist Ernesto Arrisueño arrived in Sydney in the late 1980's he was struck by the sheer intensity of the light in Australia. "I am originally from Peru - a dry, mountainous country with greying skies. In my Peruvian paintings, I used more greens and greys. Because of the weather, the colours are always pale. The sky is mostly cloudy. But when I came here the first thing I saw was the beautiful strong blue sky (and) the contrast of the landscape. It is a land of flowers and greenery and more vibrant colour than I was familiar with.... That changed the colours I use, and some of my subjects."

In his recent works Arrisueño has explored the interplay of surrealism and realism. "Unexpected things in everyday life. Things that sometimes surprise us, or even are absurd. Because, some of the paintings are symbolic and some are realistic, I just call it, as a general title, symbolic realism," explains the artist.

Arrisueño is clear on his role: "I am not a painter of traditional 'still-life', rather I am a conceptual artist, a painter of ideas." Explaining a number of paintings of flowers that he completed, Arrisueño noted that he had "an idea based on the giving of flowers, which is a very common practice here. Flowers mean beauty and passion. I had the idea of wanting to give flowers - not just a bunch but an infinity of flowers.... I give you not just the bunch but a field of flowers and the wish of all the passion that such a field can give. Therefore, I created a painting where a jug of flowers evolves into a landscape of flowers and continues until eternity."

While his paintings can appear to be tranquil set pieces, each one has a twist, a transformation, that makes them part of another world. Some of Arrisueño's works are clearly within the surrealist field, such as The Lie (above), with its young woman gaining comfort from grabbing the sky and pulling it close around her. The sky is her reality, and she holds it close.

This use of transformation and absurdity is not surprising from South American artist, as the arts there have been dominated for some time by an understanding of the beauty and the magic of the everyday, and how they can easily be enhanced into something greater than the mind can easily grasp.

Arrisueño recently held his first solo exhibition in Hong Kong. Those wishing to view his work can do so in Sydney in March this year, when Arrisueño's work will be on show at the Wagner Art Gallery (39 Gurner Street, Paddington).