Javier Arce’s oil paintings stretched on repurposed untreated wood culled from the artist’s countryside environment in Cantabria (northern Spain) bespeaks a pastoral esthetic beckoning study. It’s the appeal of art-making from the Barbizon school from the 19th century, but also contemporary influences as wide and large as gardener Gilles Clement, botanist Francis Hallé, author Richard Powers, or plant theorist and philosopher Michael Marder that imbue the artist’s work. Arce’s subject matter goes beyond the classical bucolic genres of landscape painting or antiquated ideas of pastoral life to locate new forms of inhabiting territory. He extends these concerns to notions of rural communitarianism, solitary being, and the inner life of plants. At times Arce portrays new types of non-human inhabitants in discrete evocative scenes, gesturing to the ongoing confluence of the rural and the urban.
In From Nature, the process of bridging human thought with nature is a primary concern. He applies the idea of a ‘plantlike existence’ modeled after the aforementioned thinker Michael Marder, embracing temporality, freedom, material knowledge, wisdom, and transformation, much like the inherent characteristics of a garden. The artist depicts colorful and vivid landscapes of plant and tree species, wildflowers in bloom, and inflorescent flowers bursting forth, expressing movement. On the close at hand (Muhlenbergia capillaris), for example, shows an explosive, fireworks-esque pink hued muhly grass in full exhibit of its capillary like branching pattern. On the close at hand (Obey) however, is a rich, deeply tinted maroon landscape of mutating velvety patterns. On the close at hand (Feísmo, Pedro’s house) describes, albeit in an abstract gesture, a scene of architectural defiance and the self-built style called feísmo in Spain. The represented poles or rods recall Mondriaan’s lines and grids, but in a muted hazy scene.
The artist’s striking, curvy armature-like frames, an ingenious and novel support, stem from the artist’s own living situation. He stockpiles wood for the winter heating of his cabin, and coincidentally the size of the paintings, parallels the size of the logs cut for his chimney. This creates a very sculptural application to painting, and the work is equally relevant when viewed from behind. The role of the cabin has a history in his work; in many ways he uses the figure of the cabin as a gateway to another way of seeing or experiencing the world. A social realignment, perhaps. Like many artists who turn to the rural as a lifeforce, Arce also engages in an ecological awareness that desires for a more transparent relation to food, labor, and social relations. The artist applies agro-poetical gestures to the synthesizing of art and life; indirectly he points to the efforts of rural communitarianism within the context of the traditional rural environment, evading romanticism. These concerns are evoked vis-à-vis themes of selfhood, mood, environment, and the nature of landscape painting itself.
Jennifer Teets
Detail On the close-at-hand (Seco), 2022. Oil on linen, rhododendron stretcher. 14,9 x 13,7 in. Detalle On the close-at-hand (Seco), 2022. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de rododendro. 38 x 35 cm.
On the close-at-hand (Seco), 2022. Oil on linen, rhododendron stretcher. 14,9 x 13,7 in. On the close-at-hand (Seco), 2022. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de rododendro. 38 x 35 cm.
On the close-at-hand (Desde mi ventana), 2022.Oil on linen, oak stretcher, 12,9 x 11,4 in. On the close-at-hand (Desde mi ventana), 2022.Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de roble, 33 x 29 cm.
Back, On the close-at-hand (Desde mi ventana), 2022.Oil on linen, oak stretcher, 12,9 x 11,4 in. Trasera, On the close -at-hand (Desde mi ventana), 2022.Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de roble, 33 x 29 cm.
General view of the exhibition From nature. Vista general de la exposicion From nature.
On the close-at-hand (Sango-kaku Winter), 2020. Oil on linen, oak stretcher. 14.6 x 13.8 in. On the close-at-hand (Sango-kaku Winter), 2020. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de roble. 37 x 35 cm.
Detail On the close-at-hand (Sango-kaku Winter), 2020. Oil on linen, oak stretcher. 14.6 x 13.8 in. Detalle On the close-at-hand (Sango-kaku Winter), 2020. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de roble. 37 x 35 cm.
On the close-at-hand (Feismo, Pedro's house), 2021. Oil on linen, ash tree stretcher. 13.4 x 12.6 in. On the close-at-hand (Feismo, Pedro's house), 2021. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de fresno. 34 x 32 cm.
General view of the exhibition From nature. Vista general de la exposicion From nature.
On the close-at-hand (Libre Evolucion), 2023. oil on linen, hazelnut stretcher. 11.8 x 9.4 in. On the close-at-hand (Libre Evolución), 2023. óleo sobre lino, bastidor de avellana. 30 x 24 cm.
Detail of On the close-at-hand (Amable), 2021. Oil on linen, eucalyptus stretcher. 17.7 x 12.2 in. Detalle de On the close-at-hand (Amable), 2021. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de eucalipto. 45 x 31 cm.
On the close-at-hand (Amable), 2021. Oil on linen, eucalyptus stretcher. 17.7 x 12.2 in. On the close-at-hand (Amable), 2021. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de eucalipto. 45 x 31 cm.
Detail of On the close-at-hand (burnt brown), 2021. Oil on linen, hazel stretcher. 12.6 x 12.6 in. Detalle de On the close-at-hand (burnt brown), 2021. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de avellano. 32 x 32 cm.
On the close-at-hand (burnt brown), 2021. Oil on linen, hazel stretcher. 12.6 x 12.6 in. On the close-at-hand (burnt brown), 2021. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de avellano. 32 x 32 cm.
Back of On the close-at-hand (burnt brown), 2021. Oil on linen, hazel stretcher. 12.6 x 12.6 in. Trasera de On the close-at-hand (burnt brown), 2021. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de avellano. 32 x 32 cm.
On the close-at-hand (Obey), 2021. Oil on linen, eucalyptus stretcher. 17.3 x 17.7 in. On the close-at-hand (Obey), 2021. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de eucalipto. 44 x 45 cm.
Detail of On the close-at-hand (Obey), 2021. Oil on linen, eucalyptus stretcher. 17.3 x 17.7 in. Detalle de On the close-at-hand (Obey), 2021. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de eucalipto. 44 x 45 cm.
On the close-at-hand (Muhlenbergia capillaris), 2021. Oil on linen, oak stretcher. 16.5 x 14.6 in. On the close-at-hand (Muhlenbergia capillaris), 2021. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de roble. 42 x 37 cm.
Detail of On the close-at-hand (Muhlenbergia capillaris), 2021. Oil on linen, oak stretcher. 16.5 x 14.6 in. Detalle de On the close-at-hand (Muhlenbergia capillaris), 2021. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de roble. 42 x 37 cm.
General view of the exhibition From nature. Vista general de la exposicion From nature.
On the close-at-hand (Piedra niebla), 2023. Oil on linen, rhododendron stretcher. 11.4 x 10.2 in. On the close-at-hand (Piedra niebla), 2023. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de rododendro. 29 x 26 cm.
On the close-at-hand (the anti-environmentalist), 2022. Oil on linen, eucalyptus stretcher. 17.9 x 14.6 in. On the close-at-hand (the anti-environmentalist), 2022. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de eucalipto. 45,5 x 37 cm.
Detail of On the close-at-hand (the anti-environmentalist), 2022. Oil on linen, eucalyptus stretcher. 17.9 x 14.6 in. Detalle de On the close-at-hand (the anti-environmentalist), 2022. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de eucalipto. 45,5 x 37 cm.
On the close-at-hand (High land), 2021. Oil on linen, hazel stretcher. 12.6 x 14.2 in. On the close-at-hand (High land), 2021. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de avellano. 32 x 36 cm.
Detail of On the close-at-hand (High land), 2021. Oil on linen, hazel stretcher. 12.6 x 14.2 in. Detalle de On the close-at-hand (High land), 2021. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de avellano. 32 x 36 cm.
On the close-at-hand (Piel), 2023. Oil on linen, eucalyptus stretcher. 16.9 x 14.2 in. On the close-at-hand (Piel), 2023. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de eucalipto. 43 x 36 cm.
On the close-at-hand (tree bark), 2022. Oil on linen, hazel stretcher. 15 x 15 in. On the close-at-hand (tree bark), 2022. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de avellano. 43,5 x 32 cm.
Detail of On the close-at-hand (Trip with Alister Carmichael), 2021. Oil on linen, hazel stretcher. 18.1 x 18.5 in. Detalle de On the close-at-hand (Trip with Alister Carmichael), 2021. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de avellano. 46 x 47 cm.
On the close-at-hand (Trip with Alister Carmichael), 2021. Oil on linen, hazel stretcher. 18.1 x 18.5 in. On the close-at-hand (Trip with Alister Carmichael), 2021. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de avellano. 46 x 47 cm.
General view of the exhibition From nature. Vista general de la exposicion From nature.
On the close-at-hand (la casa de la zorra), 2023. Oil on linen, liquidambar stretcher. 17.9 x 14.6 in. On the close-at-hand (la casa de la zorra), 2023. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de liquidambar. 45.5 x 37 cm
On the close-at-hand (Foret primaire), 2023.Oil on linen, liquidámbar stretcher, 17.7 x 14.1 in. On the close-at-hand (Foret primaire), 2023. Óleo sobre lino, bastidor de liquidambar, 45 x 36 cm.