黑料不打烊

In a world where noise and commotion are increasingly prevalent, and where it seems out of fashion to not make one's presence loudly felt, Jos茅 Lerma gives a face to the bystanders and the silent witnesses in the back. But only in moderation鈥攖he faces he presents to us are, after all, stripped down to their most basic features. Highly stylized and rigid, they retain only the bare essentials of facial structure in what the artist calls 鈥渢he summary of a portrait.鈥� His paintings go beyond mere representation, teetering on the edge of abstraction.

The profile paintings in Bayamonesque are a cornerstone of Jos茅 Lerma鈥檚 oeuvre. Over the past decade and a half, since encountering Jean-L茅on G茅r么me鈥檚 鈥楻eception of the Grand Cond茅 by Louis XIV鈥� at the Mus茅e d鈥橭rsay in Paris, he has been captivated by the sparse brushstrokes with which G茅r么me rendered background figures. Most of Lerma鈥檚 works are created in a single session. His medium鈥攁 heavy, unwieldy blend of construction materials and acrylics鈥攄ries quickly, leaving little to no margin for error. The immediacy of his process closely aligns with his goal of capturing the quickness of a sketch.

Though the roots of Lerma鈥檚 ideas lie in the neoclassical and romantic traditions of G茅r么me, he also draws inspiration from the sketch-like qualities of the Bay Area Figurative Movement and the work of Belgian artist Bram Bogart. The latter reference comes as no surprise: Bogart, a key figure in informal art, became known for his thick, cement-like canvases. Lerma holds Bogart鈥檚 impasto-rich works in high regard: 鈥淏ogart set my blueprint. I just hyper-stylized it.鈥� As with Bogart, so too with Lerma鈥攈is plasticine-like textures evoke an almost primal, childlike urge to reach out and touch their provocative surfaces.

Bayamonesque marks the end of an era. The past fifteen to eighteen years have led to the culmination of this profile series as we know it. Jos茅 Lerma sees this body of work as the conclusion of his current artistic cycle, bringing the viewer back to his homeland and the familiar faces of his past to complete this chapter. There are subtle shifts, however鈥攖he skin tones and surface colors now reflect more vivid blues, reds, and greens, lending the figures an otherworldly, almost artificial glow. They seem less illuminated by natural light and more like they exist under an entirely different spectrum.

The title of the exhibition reflects the interplay of opposites, a recurring theme throughout Lerma鈥檚 career. He grew up in Bayam贸n, an industrial suburb on the outskirts of Puerto Rico. Though not known for its picturesque qualities, Bayam贸n holds a special place in the artist鈥檚 heart, infusing this exhibition with a sense of everyday life. The quotidian nature of his hometown is made poetic by the suffix he adds to it, embodying the incongruity he delights in exploring. The profile paintings, after all, are built on a similar contrast鈥攂alancing the excess of thick impasto with the sparseness of just a few brushstrokes, and using large canvases to capture what are, essentially, sketches. Then again, the abundance of material makes a Lerma work impossible on a small scale.