| Art history is one of the subjects I find most fascinating to work with. I am driven by the concept of questioning themes intrinsic to the history of painting, such as perception, presence, and absence—that is to say, the very essence of its raison d’etre. I use a wide range of materials and techniques, at times being more faithful to tradition, while on other occasions creating objects that exist in a space departs from conventionalism. Since 1996, part of my work has been inspired by some of the classical masters. For instance, I begin by taking a fragment of an image and then paint it again, remaining as faithful to the original as possible. Sometimes these fragments seem to be chosen at random. | 
|
Roberto Coromina is a Spanish artist working in New York City.
Roberto Coromina, Pinturas escondidas. 2007. Acrylic on canvas, 107 x 72 x 8.5 inches. Courtesy of the artist.Art history is one of the subjects I find most fascinating to work with. I am driven by the concept of questioning themes intrinsic to the history of painting, such as perception, presence, and absence—that is to say, the very essence of its raison d’etre. I use a wide range of materials and techniques, at times being more faithful to tradition, while on other occasions creating objects that exist in a space departs from conventionalism.
Since 1996, part of my work has been inspired by some of the classical masters. For instance, I begin by taking a fragment of an image and then paint it again, remaining as faithful to the original as possible. Sometimes these fragments seem to be chosen at random. In other instances, these fragments are areas of focus, like the signature or the eyes of the person in a portrait. Afterward, I developed a series of anamorphic paintings with a distorted image inspired by Hans Holbein’s work The Ambassadors (1533).
Recently I have developed my work taking Reverse of a Picture (1670) by Cornelis Gijsbrechts as a point of departure, completing a series of drawings, paintings, and sculptures named Paintings for Pedestals. For this work I used the same materials used for painting: canvas, pigments, and frames. Following up this idea, I developed various site-specific projects using a number of frames. One of the ideas behind these projects is to offer an experience of how perception can deceive role, given the fact that we tend to “complete” each fragment, perceiving it as a whole painting and thus seeing frames that are being gobbled up by the wall or sprouting from the floor.
For the exhibition at Magnan Projects I planned Elliptical Bites, a site-specific installation of two ellipses on opposing walls of the gallery, each measuring 27 x 3 feet. Made out of canvas and wood fragments, the ellipses appear to emerge from the surface of the walls. Each fragment is a separate module cut at a straight angle. Along the edge of the ellipse these fragments contain repetitive shapes that imbue the piece with a sense of rhythm and depth. I am interested in the Baroque concept of expanding space, and my intention is for the viewer to experience the fragmented pieces as a whole. Seen from the street, before entering the gallery space, the pieces appear as two circles facing each other. Once inside the gallery it becomes clear that the shapes are not circles but ellipses. Their size requires the viewer to walk the length of the gallery to see them in detail. When walking along this work, the walls seem to expand, and because of an optical effect, the eye is once more deceived. The initial impression of the installation is one of color and shape. This impression will follow as the viewer moves through the installation until the piece is seen from the back of the gallery, where the unpainted back side of the fragmented “slices” of canvas reveals an entirely different perspective. Elliptical Bites invites the viewer to actively participate in my investigations into how painting can deceive our perceptions as I attempt to define new limits of painting.
