VERTIGEN (VERTIGO) | 02 – 23 JULY 2022
RED, YELLOW, BLUE
It is not true, that when we close our eyes we do not see anything. There is always this bit of light that enters the eyelids, this tiny piece of skin, of nerve, of vein, that filters the world through its blue or its red. There is also that light at the end of the tunnel that, once our eyes are closed, shows up within the shape of a white circle where our pupils should reflect. Monsters. Moonshine. Beings and experiences which are more imaginary than real, but that can be seen by our eyes anyways.
The same happens with fear: fear is nothing, if one dares to face it. And at the same time, even if we try to close our eyes and ignore it, there will always be that trace of fear that we all carry inside. Fear of dying; fear of taking certain decisions; fear of assuming our very own vulnerability; fear of learning. Even the metaphorical or literal fear of heights: vertigo.
I climb up to the highest point. I close my eyes and open them again. I observe the new collection by Salvador Llinàs (ses Salines, 1985), Vertigen [Vertigo]. And what I see and do not see in each position, looks suspiciously alike: it is the artist’s skill for painting, for portraying what attracts us, and at the same time what we do not dare to watch. Monsters; darkness; the fear of falling; always fear.
With a talent for capturing quintessence and basic colors, and deeply influenced by the fauvist movement and the works of Joan Miró, but with blackness providing a framework and atmosphere, along with an agile and radical streak which connects directly with Oració per la sal (2015), a work by the artist Horacio Sapere (also from Ses Salines), and with the urges of those who need to stop and share, in an act of generosity, what is so difficult to describe —to paint—, Salvador Llinàs now presents Vertigen. A series of works that exist between limits and the deepest levels of subjectivity; between what scares and at the same time fascinates us. A jump into the void; red, yellow and blue act as a net. It just feels better to let us fall.
Sebastià Portell
May 2022
Salvador Llinàs (Ses Salines, 1985). Graphic design, artistic photography and plastic arts.
He takes his brushes with the gaze of an adult who decided to go back to that moment, in our childhood, in which they limited our creativity and decided to imprison it within boundaries. He decided to calmly observe a white canvas, where the magnitude of the colours and the proposals emerge from simple and profound representations. They appear in each brushstroke and they are the origin of everything we crave: to flow with our feelings, without any self-control in our emotions.
His trajectory starts in Ses Salines, Mallorca, and is reflected in his notes in a black and white notebook. Each brushstroke explains the thoughts that involve it. Stroke by stroke, he uncovers a new identity. His rural identity, his way of belonging to a place, to a people and to the moment we all want to be in. Thoughts that we all have, that make us create and recreate, that make us decide who we are and go back to that place we never wanted to leave. Many times, without understanding what moves us, he intensifies in us this unique feeling of belonging and offers us a vision of a deconstructed world.
He tries, not in vain, that his paintings act as words that urge us to be critical with society and ourselves. Nothing has to be as it is, there is a meaning in these words, a meaning that makes us unique as human beings. There is no single truth, a thousand points of view create a reality that flows within each of us. His paintings allow our perspectives to remain apart. A real landscape does not make the artist, it is the artist who makes the landscape real.
His trajectory features several collections, in which photography, painting and design coexist. His passion has shared many exhibitions with many other artists and he has collaborated with NGOs and other platforms with social purpose. His artistic expressions have been featured in several places: Mallorca, Barcelona, Madrid, Stockholm, London, Viernheim... He has taken part on several occasions in the well-known "Nits de l'Art" ("Art Nights") of Mallorca.
He is contextual and innovative, with a tendency of going back to the origin; to our origin. He often uses primary colours in dark caves, since our roots are always present in his creations. He wants to define dialogue paths that overcome time and space. Where photography and painting interact to face questions that torment us but at the same time allow us to see the future from the past. The reflection of what art is and its consequences are immense nowadays, like the sea and the salt in our skin.
Isabel Alcalde
