The Jungle

An abstract horizontal composition in which the author draws organic air shapes using thick strokes in black over a barely existing background as these cut-out shapes invade the full canvas. The chromatic color palette darkens the piece and is limited to ochres, greens, browns, black, as well as touches of white, which bring light to the composition. Incisions across the pictorial layer and several drips, as well as the lines which are marked yet strongly expressionist, together give the piece a great expressive strength. The title completes the vision of the piece: overwhelming naturalness, a naturalness that is no more than a mental starting point as the piece is completely abstract. Santiago Lagunas was a member of the founding core of the Aragonese avant-garde group Grupo Pórtico (1947–1952), the first group to practice abstraction in Spain. In 1949, this collective and its creators fundamentally drifted, without returning in the case of Lagunas, toward abstraction.