Pablo Guzman’s figurative-abstract painting: realism, xenology and anecdote

Abstract

This paper presents a philosophical hermeneutics applied to the work of the contemporary Colombian painter Pablo Guzmán. Two of his paintings, Irregular naranjaand Tríptico azul, which were selected through the method of theoretical sampling, are analyzed. The most relevant results confirm the hypothesis that Guzmán’s art represents a stylistic and conceptual turn with respect to how figurative painting has been seen until now. Thus, first, an abstract figurative style has been corroborated in his acrylics; second, that his main motif is the idea of xenology, that is, a certain thematization of the strange, the foreign and the distorted; and third, that the works refer to a certain unfolding of their own theme, which is precisely what seduces us: the certainty that we will never have an answer to the anecdotal in them. It is recommended to carry out similar research (from semiotics, heuristics, feminist theory or cultural or postcolonial studies, for example) that address a larger universe of Latin American artists, especially considering the argument that the visual artists of our continent are not —euphemistically said—a special concern of the world’s scientific journals or magazines.