Cándido Camero 2017

This is a portrait of Cándido Camero by Luis Álvarez Roure. I can only imagine how it came into being, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition. I sympathize with the artist, imagining the studio, the smell of the paint, and the focus required to capture a likeness, not just of the face but the person, too. Look at the drips of thinned red paint streaking down the canvas, creating a sense of immediacy, as if caught mid-creation. The paint looks thin, applied in delicate layers to build up the tones of the skin, whereas the sitter’s red shirt is looser, more gestural. It is as if Luis Álvarez Roure is in conversation with other portrait painters, riffing off their ideas and adding his own voice to the mix. Artists are always inspiring one another’s creativity across time. Painting embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations and meanings. It is a form of embodied expression.