ArtWay

Quality is the first norm for art, but its final norm is love and truth, the enriching of human life, the deepening of our vision.

Artists

Valeriano, Pilar

Pilar Valeriano

Bio

Pilar Valeriano was born in 1957 in Merida, Spain. She graduated in studio art from the University of Barcelona in 1982. For 11 years she worked as a drawing and painting teacher at the School of Arts and Crafts of the Deputy Government of Barcelona. Nowadays she focuses her time on painting. She is married with sculptor and teacher Ramon Massana. They have one son and live in Barcelona.

Pilar has participated in both national and international exhibitions. Her work is present in the collections of the Museo de Cáceres and the Colegio del Rey Fundation of Alcalá de Henares, Madrid.

This year, in 2011, she had an exhibition together with her husband ramon Massana at the Espai B Gallery in Barcelona and they also participated in the Arte e Fe (Art and Faith) exhibition at the Pons Foundation in Madrid, Spain.

Work Process

I usually work in series or according to topics. Depending on the emotions I want to express I choose the medium I want to work with – oil paint, acrylics, watercolor, paper or fabric collage, or mixed media. I especially like to combine graphite strokes with color patches or India ink.

My way of painting can be compared with a quest, as it is spontaneous and intuitive. My emotions are my guide, while I am surprised by what emerges on the canvas. The results vary from more gestural to more constructive.

I appreciate simplification, synthesis, empty spaces and simple materials. I prefer to express a feeling with only one or two colors. Sometimes I erase everything that is in the background of the painting, leaving only a few strokes on the canvas.

Inspiration and motivation

I am especially motivated by experiences of the spirit. This is why some of my series are called Dialogues, Fortresses, and Interior Landscapes. Another important topic for me is the human being and its feelings and relationships. I search for beauty, harmony, and balance, which I find in the contemplation of nature as it talks about God and serves as a source of inspiration. I am not interested in painting pretty pictures, I want to paint something that goes further than this, that transcends.

I want my paintings to be open to different interpretations and therefore prefer not to give them titles that could condition or restrict the viewer.

1. Interior Landscapes 1, 2008, acrylics on canvas, 130x130 cm.

2. Interior Landscapes 2, 2010, acrylics on canvas, 60x60 cm.

3. Interior Landscapes 3, 2009, acrylics on canvas, 50x50 cm. Interior Landscapes: These are paintings using acrylics on canvas, with large color fields painted in big gestural brush strokes. In this series the first fresh brush strokes are very important as in many cases they are definitive, leaving the corners without paint, creating a cross-like composition.

4. Textile Collage 1, 2005, 35x35 cm.

5. Textile Collage 2, 2005, 20x20 cm.

Textile Collage series: textile on white wood. This is a more constructive type of work. Colors, textures and transparencies result from the chosen materials.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pilarvaleriano