ANTONIO CARREÑO: INSTINCT

We are pleased to announce ANTONIO CARREÑO: INSTINCT a solo exhibition of new works by the artist. This exhibition, Carreño’s fifth solo with MJFA, will run from November 17, 2017 - January 13, 2018, with an opening reception on Friday, November 17, 2017, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. 

 

In INSTINCT, Antonio Carreño introduces a new series of abstract paintings radically different in appearance from past works.  While united in spirit to previous experiments, and adhering solely to spontaneity and instinct, Carreño’s newest work is the manifestation of the subconscious brought into form.  In sharing with the audience, the mysterious and often complex fluctuations of his psyche, Carreño ultimately discovers that singular thread that inexplicably connects us all – INSTINCT.

 

Carreño’s individual brand of action painting is defined by illusive, layered surfaces, implying rapid shifts from one emotive response to another.  He approaches color as a window into the soul, painting intuitively free of any preconceived ideas.  The palette of intense, rich colors, acts as a vibrational frequency, inviting the viewer into a field that stretches beyond linear space and time. Brash, powerful brushstrokes imply an inner strength of being.

 

The paintings’ titles provide the viewer a clue to the momentary instinctual poetic stirring from within. In the densely chromatic painting, entitled Ascending In, Carreño applies from left to right, broad horizontal strokes of oil paint across the canvas and then scrapes and blends the pigments in with a spatula. The painting intensifies, moving left to right, between the warm colors of beige and green on one side and dark blues and blacks on the opposite.  In the process of creating his composition, the artist works quickly so that the mind does not interfere. 

 

Allegorical, another of Carreño’s dynamic painting showcased in the exhibition, features horizontal blocks of color-fields in translucent blue and black. Repeated triangular monolithic structures emerge at various angles, hovering over the surface of the canvas. These veiled pictorial elements reference a hidden narrative in the painting. 

 

In encountering Antonio Carreño’s paintings, one can sense the lyrical, the magical, and the highly spiritual aspect to his work. By capturing the density of light and shadow, the artist provides a doorway into our own emotions and mode of expression - the embodiment of our personal instinct.

 

Born in 1963, Antonio Carreño’s work has been receiving accolades nationally and, in his birthplace, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  He gained his academic background at the National School of Fine Arts and has been exhibiting his work in galleries throughout the United States for over 35 years. Public collections of Carreño’s works include Arizona State University, The Dominican America Institute of Culture, Santo Domingo, DR, The Latin American Museum of Modern Art, Washington, DC, The Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA, and The Museum of Modern Art, Santo Domingo, DR, among others.