There is something crazy about a culture in which the value of beauty becomes controversial. It is crazy not to celebrate whatever reconciles us to life.
Peter Schjeldahl “Notes on Beauty”

Despite persistent rumors to the contrary, Raimundo Figueroa’s body of work provides ample evidence that painting is alive and well. Indeed, painting inspired by beauty is not an antiquated, romantic notion, but a vital force, as seen throughout the three-decade survey of Raimundo Figueroa, Constant Beauty. Figueroa has maintained a studio in Puerto Rico since the 1980s, though his itinerant lifestyle has given him opportunities to work for extended periods in the United States, Europe, particularly the Netherlands, and St. Barthelemy. Each domicile has inspired a new series of paintings and collages. The constant throughout is his pursuit of painting as a spiritual discipline, and celebration of the beauty that life has to offer.

All artwork is about beauty; all positive work represents it and celebrates it. All negative art protests the lack of beauty in our lives.

Agnes Martin “Beauty is the Mystery of Life”

Figueroa’s work adheres to that positive representation of beauty. Judging from titles like A God Called God (1999-2007) and True Love (1999), he doesn’t shy away from the big issues in life. The early “Secret Dialogue” and “Influence of Silence” series include some of his most philosophically questioning and densely layered paintings. Examples like El Olvido (1989) and Secret Dialogue with Beauty (1991) are filled with personal notations, allusions to other artists, and a lively mix of vibrant colors. They invite close inspection of their many details. Often incorporating hand-written notes, they are Cy Twombly-esque in calligraphic line. Twombly’s commentary on his own work — “It does not illustrate. It is the sensation of its own realization.” — applies to Figueroa’s work as well. His principle connection with Abstract Expressionists such as Twombly or Willem de Kooning’s late phase is in his freedom of execution and skillful use of color. The incorporation of figurative imagery belies the truth that the primary subject is painting itself.

Love is a recurring theme. Besides True Love, we find Red Love (2003) and Love Prints (2003), which share with Field of Tulips (2003), a delicate patterning of brush strokes. These paintings feel celebratory and are above all expressive of the positive emotions surrounding love. Figueroa recognizes that love is one of life’s most beautiful gifts and searches for iconic shapes and colors to convey that sentiment.

Beginning with the “White Paintings” in the early 1990s, a parallel strain of Figueroa’s work has been minimalist abstraction. True Love and Yellow (2004) initially appear monochromatic, but closer inspection reveals multiple layers of drawing and painting, as do large-scale, bold abstractions such as Grow Up (1993) and A God Called God.

The “Vital Forces” series of black and white canvases and drawings, exhibited in St. Barths in 2008, are elegant examples of Zen-like gestural line combined with underlying layers of color. Titles such as The Way is All (2006-08) and Quietness is the Master of Restlessness (2006-08) also have Taoist or Zen Buddhist associations, as if they are visual koans. The grand scale and incorporation of drips allude to Abstract Expressionist masters such as Franz Kline and perhaps Philip Guston’s shapes. Yet the thin layers of paint visible beneath the gestural line reveal that these paintings are not just about action, but also about deliberation. “Vital Forces” includes a series of untitled drawings made with coffee and black ink on paper. Like Color Field paintings on unprimed canvas, the medium allows the line to bleed into the paper, revealing the ghost of the forms, and emphasizing the element of time introduced by the process. These are among Figueroa’s simplest and most commanding works.

Figueroa’s mixed media collages provide a more light-hearted counterpoint to his large-scale paintings. He first began producing collages and montages in 1973. Easily transported, he has created large numbers of works on paper while traveling and residing in Amsterdam and St. Barths. Perhaps harkening back to his early training as a classical violinist, the collages have a diaristic feeling, as if reflective of a daily habit of practicing his craft of drawing and composing. The imagery draws on influences as far flung as African masks, sheet music, photographs and many varieties of flowers. The collages exhibit the greatest sense of freedom of imagery and brilliant color. Each one a masterfully composed snapshot into his imagination and daily life.

“Constant Beauty” is as much about the pursuit of beauty as its capture. The variety of paintings and works on paper, incorporating figuration and abstraction, reflects the many paths toward beauty and spiritual awareness that Figueroa has explored. Incorporating universal symbolic forms such as the sign for infinity and the oval, Figueroa taps into spiritual archetypes that convey a sense of harmony. His painterly language of form and color has evolved through time, yet carries a consistent message of probing questions and finding resolutions through artistic practice.

Laura Roulet
2011