Pintura No. 4 1973

Fernando García Ponce made Pintura No. 4, a painting of oil on canvas, sometime in the mid-20th century. Ponce works with a muted, almost monochrome palette offset by the bold verticals of the red section. The painting feels like it was achieved through a careful process, building up thin layers of paint one over another. The surface of Pintura No. 4 feels uneven, disrupted, full of texture. Thick impasto in the lower right corner is scratched and scraped back to the canvas. Elsewhere, the paint appears thin and transparent, especially in the sandy color block at the top left of the piece. This contrast between textures creates a sense of movement and visual interest, inviting us to explore the materiality of the paint itself. The forms are geometric, but Ponce leaves drips and marks, revealing the human hand. The textures are built up from many layers like sedimentary rock, each mark building on another. I’m reminded of the work of Sean Scully, who has also used geometric form in an expressive, non-objective way. It's a conversation across time, a shared language of abstraction that continues to evolve. There’s not just one story, but many stories happening all at once.