‘Fifty Ways’, 2024, acrylic behind glass, acrylic and lacquer on wood, 84 x 104 cm
Julio Rondo presents a new series of layered reverse-glass paintings in theremustbesomekindofstructure. The artist creates each work by enclosing a painted wood surface in a glass case, treating its own reverse side with an overlay of acrylic in a technique he has developed since the 1980s. Rondo uses quick-drying acrylic paint to simultaneously capture his remembered past and preserve the present moment. Forgoing a mimetic depiction of specific environments or narratives, his work rather embodies the essence of incomprehensible and subjectively perceived emotions. The geometric colour fields are released from the rigidity of their form through expressive and visible brushstrokes. Although the painted marks appear to be improvised due to their vivacity, their form is meticulously executed by the artist. Each stroke is treated with such careful deliberation that, when viewed as a collective, the work transforms into a chorus of complex colour relationships that immerses the viewer in a captivating illusory space.