Gestuality and Structure In the Paint of Enrico Armas
by Susana Benko

Perseverance, a verb that express will and grow. Those who persevere get his essential goals in return to their tenacity. The paint of Enrico Armas is an act of faith, it is the expression of his deepest perseverance and he has kept firmly his principles. This is one of the most admirable aspects of his personality as an artist.

Through the years he got a space as a painter in the Venezuelan scenario. He had defeat the persistent appreciation of being a sculptor without been heard as a painter. However, meanwhile that condition of sculpture was conditioned to him, he developed more intensively his passion to paint. For that reason he increased his impulse towards the color. The color is expressed with much more vitality by means of a high grade of pure colors (intensive red, amazing blue, alive yellows, etc) or tinged by a spontaneous and fearless expression or "gestuality". For those reasons, undoubtedly, we are in presence of an extremely emotional artist.

On the other side, his investigation in the three-dimensional work was useful. From the pictorial perspective he shows a constructive will of space. In his "gestuality" there is a form of demarcation, sometimes very clear, sometimes very subtle, it is a product of his compositive vision of the pictorial surface. Either by planes of colors differenced one of each other, by signs or calligraphic, those resources are functionally ways of demarcation. This structural need does not overcome over the sensuous experience with the pictorial material, therefore there is a very textured surface of many of his canvas were the pigment is worked so thick without saving of color.

These feature may be was received from the tactile quality of sculpture. The modeling was his option in these environment, even when these technique would not responds to the contemporary art interests, he did it without taking care of the fashions. All of this tells us about his integral condition as an artist. Designer, painter, sculptor and engraver, he studied graphic design and during years the technique of engraving. He has gone deep in the in the necessary procedures for his needs to express. In this sense he is an artist consequent with his principles. Since 1992 he is exhibiting his paints and he always is looking with persistency in forming a language and universes for himself.

Color, sign and gesture are the three main points that conform his paint and are functioning interconnected between them, sometimes one of them overcome the others, in that way, Enrico has some works with a very intensive colorful, predominantly abstracts but details -painted o remarked by the edge of a knife or spatula- stand up like horses silhouettes, flowers and other natural elements.

He conformed a natural world where a landscape could appear in the background, at least not in the strictly figurative sense. In despite of it, the reality is always referred because Enrico permanently feel the pleasure of the ambiguous. The same can be said on his tendency to get more informality in his paint. From the structured and definitively "compound", there is a mayor surrender to informality and spontaneous, there is desire to assume the chaotic as a model of work and a free way to be related with the matters. It is the results of an open attitude to dualities and to accept himself as an artist subject to experiment, no only formal or thematic changes but the creation itself as a process between the informality and the structured.

This vague definition -willingly- allows him paint with absolute liberty. Gradually, as we can see in his latest works, signs are melting with "gestuallity" to become in a pictorial reality In these works the symbolic figures-horses, women, vegetal or calligraphic objects- acquires more resonance precisely because are integrated to the pictorial context.

Everything was possible after years of ripeness, hard work and enormous tenacity and perseverance. Works that are made every day, with continuous effort that marks indicate his rules and gets personality, it is a product of talent and originality.

Caracas, Venezuela
December, year 2001

Susana Benko
Bachelor of Arts, UCV; Master in Contemporary Literature, USB; Art Researcher, Curator.
Worked at the Museo de Bellas Artes, Galeria de Arte Nacional, - Caracas. Actually is Director for Investigation and Museographer At The Museo de la Estampa y el Diseño "Carlos Cruz-Diez", Caracas. Editorial Coordinator for Art Nexus, Caracas. Has published numerous articles and books. Was awarded with the Municipal Prize for Literature Investigation in 1990 by her Work : "Vicente Huidobro and the Cubism".