El ilusionista / The ilusionist

Jose Luis Lorenzo

Upside Down World

The figurations of José Luis Lorenzo will not please all audiences. The artist does not seek beauty, understood as full harmony of forms. José Luis Lorenzo favors speech. Assumes expressionism as a basis to recreate contemporary dilemmas. Theirs are anthropomorphic creatures, animals that assume ways and customs of the human being. Or perhaps —it could be another reading— the animal is the mask that covers the face of man. There is a certain ludic vocation in these pieces, a certain delight in narratives associated with the children's universe. Some of these works could illustrate a children's storybook. But that is a superficial vision: a more attentive look will discover crudeness that is not at all innocent. The transfiguration as a resource, the popular imagination as a context. And here and there, diaphanous metaphors about the human condition. José Luis Lorenzo uses a living palette in his most recent works. Bright colors that shed light on the protagonists of their stories. Because that's what it's all about: telling the story. All the pieces are stagings: actors on a set, adventures at times daunting, dreamlike storytelling that builds bridges with what we call reality.