Puerto (Harbor)

HUGO NANTES (1933-2009). Painter, sculptor. He studied with Dumas Oroño and Edgardo Ribeiro, and with Adolfo Pastor. He taught and participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, obtained distinctions such as the Grand Prize Gold Medal in the National Salons of 1963 and 1965, and the Figari Award (1998). He emerged as a great sculptor, using scrap metal and synthetic resins in projects of great creative subtlety, which were incorporated into public and private buildings. His pictorial work comprises different series that address the human soul, the strength and simplicity of nature, and social criticism with particular acuity. Faithful to his “habitual inclination to transform that which the memory has stored”, he makes use of color and line in almost childish ways, which contribute freshness and imagery to a time and a world populated by disjointed beings. Puerto (Harbor IADB#0500) has an “out of focus effect”, due to the lack of definition of the edges and the use of contours that are integrated into the pictorial plane. Despite its vibrant colors —to which white is added in the light source— it is a scene that transmits a certain sadness and melancholy, as a subtle reference to a world of neglected or distant beings.