“I remember during a photoshoot, the idea of hiding the model under the carpet came to my mind. I remember when I saw the bulky rug through the camera lens, I immediately realised what a powerful image that was. It had all the psychological tension of a person, but I had literally gotten rid of the body. The result was sublime, equally dark and humorous, heavy and beautiful.”
A seductive fusion of mystery and elaborate artifice, Sonora captures the distinct style and emotional drama that has catapulted Spanish painter Anotnio Santin into international regard. Executed in 2022, the present work exemplifies the artist’s signature approach to photorealistic figurative paintings, showcasing sumptuous oriental carpets draped over human-like forms. In its striking interplay of rhythm and texture, Sonora effortlessly combines traditional technique and contemporary painting in a thrilling interrogation of textile and form.
In Sonora, Santin explores the hidden depths of the object he depicts, reveling in the way that carpet transforms and deforms when hiding an undefineds volume. Santin weaves together Orientalist design in striking realism, hinting at early Muslim arabesques found in medieval southern Spain–a nod to Spain’s Islamic heritage. And yet, close inspection of the surface reveals lush and painterly markings that verge into the realm of abstraction. Santin layers acrylic and oil in weaving patterns, mimicking the threads of the carpet in painterly flicks of yellow ochre, ultramarine and stunning violet. An impressive three dimensionality emerges from Santin’s technique of shadow sculpting, inspired by the tenebrism and chiaroscuro used by the masters of Spanish golden age painting. Using extreme contrasts of light and dark, the artist heightens surface and imagery to dramatic effect, creating a work that is “more real than reality itself” (the artist quoted in Marc Straus, Antonio Santin).
Blurring the line between painting and sculptural form, Sonora becomes “a figurative painting without a figure, an ornate excuse to represent what’s invisible” (Antonino Santin in interview with Urvi Kothar in “Sweeping something under the rug: in conversation with Antonio Santin,” stirworld, 22 December 2022 (online)) The goal is a sort of tri–dimensionality where the third illusion “belongs to the collects ive imagination”, explains Santin. “We all have heard the expression sweeping something under the rug, what’s in fact hidden is abstract, that idea belongs to the beholder” (Antonino Santin in interview with Urvi Kothar in “Sweeping something under the rug: in conversation with Antonio Santin,” stirworld, 22 December 2022 (online))