Ernesto Cánovas
Influenced by history, cinema and popular culture, Spanish artist Ernesto Cánovas sources images from old and new media to produce evocative, semi-abstract paintings that capture a fleeting moment in time. After digitally manipulating and de-contextualising the initial visual through a process involving reduction, magnification and cropping, he transfers these adaptations onto wooden panels. The natural, undulating grain in wood delights the artist and he relies on the individuality of its fibers to achieve the beautiful internal rhythm and dynamic quality that pervade his work. Employing a plethora of drawing and painting techniques, he then begins the delicate process of building up layering with acrylic, ink and varnish to create a sense of depth, while still allowing an element of the original––“the essence of the image”––to show through. Mystery lies beneath the surface of each work: “The image becomes a second-generation image as soon as I transfer the new image onto the prepared surface.”
Born in Barcelona in 1971 into a family that has a passion for art, with a father who is an amateur painter, Cánovas showed an early interest in art books and graphic novels. He received his MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London …
Influenced by history, cinema and popular culture, Spanish artist Ernesto Cánovas sources images from old and new media to produce evocative, semi-abstract paintings that capture a fleeting moment in time. After digitally manipulating and de-contextualising the initial visual through a process involving reduction, magnification and cropping, he transfers these adaptations onto wooden panels. The natural, undulating grain in wood delights the artist and he relies on the individuality of its fibers to achieve the beautiful internal rhythm and dynamic quality that pervade his work. Employing a plethora of drawing and painting techniques, he then begins the delicate process of building up layering with acrylic, ink and varnish to create a sense of depth, while still allowing an element of the original––“the essence of the image”––to show through. Mystery lies beneath the surface of each work: “The image becomes a second-generation image as soon as I transfer the new image onto the prepared surface.”
Born in Barcelona in 1971 into a family that has a passion for art, with a father who is an amateur painter, Cánovas showed an early interest in art books and graphic novels. He received his MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London in 2010, and is currently represented by Halcyon Gallery in London. Cánovas’s exhibits frequently and internationally. Recent solo shows include “Fake News” at Halcyon in London and and “In One Breath” at Barcelona’s Espronceda Center for Art and Culture.
Courtesy of Halcyon Gallery
