Constantly moving between the two- and three-dimensional worlds, Canova's painting reveals a profound preoccupation with space and time, themes that remain central to his work despite his radical shifts in style and media at the beginning of each new series. There is also a persistent struggle between flatness and volume, a tension that is almost programmatic in his production. His obsessive interest in transcending two dimensions is reflected on two distinct levels. On the one hand, from his early paintings depicting cell-like constructions to his recent works juxtaposing geometric structures and receptacle-like figures, perspective is fundamental. On the other hand, this desire of the artist to suggest an illusion of depth is echoed and enhanced by operations performed outside the frame. These consist of a series of dialogic interplays (sometimes including installations) between the painted image and something external to it: stretchers resting on stretchers, pieces of wood leaning against the canvas, shelves resting on the canvas, metal frames and extensions—all of which extend the image into space.
Untitled, 1997. Painting
Fernando Canovas
Untitled, 1997
Acrylic on Canvas
Dimensions:
Image size: 52 H x 65 W in.
Frame size: 53 H x 66 W x 1 D in.
Unique
Signed by the artist
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Currently lives and works in New York and SpainFernando Canovas was born in 1960 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He moved to Paris in 1983 and attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, under the direction of Pierre Alechinsky.
His work has been exhibited at many institutions, to name a few: Museo Memorial de America Latina de Sao Paolo, Brazil; Museo de la Ciudad, Valencia, Spain; andMaison de la Culture de Namur, Belgium.His paintings are distinguished for the peculiar use of space and perspective. He creates images that look almost three dimensional. The idea of labyrinths is present in his work. Sometimes these are explicitly created by the juxtaposition of several levels in the same image and others by grids with lines of different thickness. These remind us of architectural drawings for buildings. He also did a series of works in which he incorporated objects to the paintings, reinforcing the idea of several dimensions in the same plane. The pieces seem to be carefully calculated in its execution, with a technical consideration. Later on, he created a series of paintings which visually refer to a more chaotic view of the world, giving room to spontaneity and the unexpected.
