By Margaret Failoni
A small but extraordinary show opened at the Berlin Restaurant on May 5. Knowing the work of the four artists showing was enough reason to drag myself out on a scorching day of heat and I was not disappointed.
In terms of importance, Gene Johnson exhibited four big works in 50×50-cm-size images. Two were his usual beautifully executed, hard-edge abstractions, but the two I found particularly innovative were a series of mixed-media tiles in a wealth of juxtaposed colors. The surfaces were executed so brilliantly as to almost appear to be three-dimensional.
William Fares’ work also took an interesting turn. I remember well his large, hard–edge oils in pale, almost dreamlike washy colors. Here he presents us with a series of brilliantly colored cutouts weaving in and out of each other in dimensional sculpture-like
positions, almost musical, a very pleasant surprise indeed. Paper sculpture on steroids!
Alberto Lenz’s works on paper are always a theme on constructiveness design. His small repetitious geometric designs are to color what Escher is to black and white. And, miraculously, using every color in existence he never repeats himself. This brilliant sculptor is able to transfer the beautiful marriage of color and form onto his works on paper.
And last, but not least, are the lovely, dreamy works on paper by Pascual Hijuelos. Generally, I have always equated this artist’s work with hard-edge abstractions executed in bright, in-your-face color, always bold and exciting. What Rothko gives us in his bright but always nuanced bleeding-edge color fields, Pascual turns the theory on its head with brightly colored, hard-edge geometric forms, almost always in very large formats which positively stun the onlooker. Here, instead, we have small, palely washed, beautifully cool colors, as if to lull the onlooker into a meditative state. No easy accomplishment.
The Berlin opens to the public at 4:00pm. Enjoy the works with an ice-cold Aperol spritz.
An exhibition not to be missed!
