GABRIEL GRÜN | surpassing reality…with magical realism.

GABRIEL GRÜN | surpassing reality…with magical realism.
BY DENIS TAYLOR

Gabriel Grun, born in Argentina in 1978, works in a classical manner, constructing his oil paintings with the care and an inquiring curiosity for the master’s methods.
He tries to acquire not only the technical know-how but also to learn and incorporate the pictorial syntax of the great painters he admires, and with this particular language, which he considers not spent, pertinent, and still useful, he tries to communicate personal and evidently contemporary messages.
Grun began his career in Argentina and settled in Spain, represented by Dark Art Movement Gallery, and his works are scattered all around the globe, having aroused the interest of a diversified group of collectors.
Grun believes in the capacity of an artist to connect with all of art history, and in the existence of certain holes in it which can be filled, specific works that should be done, that are missing, things Dürer or Holbein just did not find enough time to do.
His vision is thus that of the possibility of continuing that big lineage of painters, of the importance of achieving certain paintings though no matter what excuses, exhibitions, galleries, commissions, whatever the road to get down to making these possible and somehow necessary works.
Grun is attracted to the elements of the classical canon, the figure, landscape, and a few drapes, architecture is not too present, but still-life elements do appear.

Over the years, Gabriel has been recognized as one of Argentina’s finest ‘fine artists’. His dedication to filling the gaps that he feels have been left by the renaissance artists has, to my mind, been an amazing voyage. Yet, beyond that, he has also ‘tuned’ himself from the stubborn art student who walked away from a modern art establishments curriculum in Buenos Aires to a husband and father and a more mature artist.

“The idea behind my work is to pick the thread of the long line of visual narrative I love and cherish and give body to certain paintings I perceive somehow to be missing, to constitute gaps that are to be filled, that Rafael or Van Der Weyden just did not have time to do.”
– Gabriel Grun

Gabriel Grun is not alone in his pursuit of classical perfection in a modern idiom. Many artists have gone before him. Dali is perhaps a good example, as is Odd Nedrum (Norway), and there are more, as no doubt readers of this magazine have discovered themselves.
However, Gabriel Grunn is unique in the way he distorts reality and how he does it. He has described this wTheof working as an alphabet, which he has had to learn and continues to learn. Still, he then transcribes his own visions by reforming and inventing [visual] words using that alphabet and creating new narratives.
In my opinion, he attempts (and succeeds) to make an image that ‘sticks’ to your eye and mind. An image that has a tendency for the viewer to take the image (and sometimes the disturbing) narrative away with one.

Critics will point to the word ‘Kitsch’ or perhaps the modern tag of ‘Goth’ for this style of painting, but there again, they are generally not painters but the casual viewer. And to be fair to those critical voices, one has to remember that all Art is subjective. And there is always the danger of making subjective judgments, especially where paintings are concerned.
As Gabriel says himself, some sort of anachronistic storytelling is not his target for dynamic art creation – His Art has a more direct desire, one of landing a punch packed with power. Some of his earlier works have a definite erotic tone, which could be simply the exuberance of youth. But, as he said recently to me, in his current life, he is not in sympathy with nor feels that he needs to call upon to give his work the emotional power or punch that he sought when he was painting in Buenos Aires.

Beauty and the Beast? They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but when painters talk of a beautiful painting, it is not always in the sense of this or that work is beautiful per sé – We could mean beautifully painted, for example. Gabriel makes beauty a point when discussing the whole concept of it in general.
Beauty can be found in unconventional ways. Monsters or hybrids, painted in some classical works, are nonetheless beautiful, he says.
In many of his works, he frequently contorts the human figure, adding a limb here or there or painting hair in the unlikeness of places. Perhaps this is to demonstrate and encourage an alternate mixed feeling of beauty or what the viewer would normally find to be a horrible form of human, Gabriel forces you to see as beautiful.
I guess this makes the viewer re-examine preconceived ideas of ‘the beautiful’ with a reluctance yet an unavoidable attraction when looking at one of his paintings. His works are not small in stature either; when you are standing in front of one of his paintings, ‘size’ really does matter, as all large paintings tend to carry greater psychological weight with the viewer.

Gabriel is also intensely interested in Greek myths but does not try to simulate them in his work; rather, the ‘stories’ give him a conceptual view of life. What its meaning is and how alternate views of ‘what life is for’ are formed. Gabriel freely admits that he over-thinks (intellectualizes) his subject matter at times, but that is not uncommon for artists, especially painters. It’s all part of the process of ‘washing away’ the conscious mind before one begins to paint with an unrestricted, non-bigoted, sublime creative subconscious.

He tells me that he now works more diligently than he has in the past to ensure the work he creates is as perfect as his eye can see it. He will continue working on a painting for several weeks correcting imperfections as he views them. This can be best summed up in his own words, which he said to me only a few weeks ago…
“I see them, and my eye automatically goes to those placed where I failed, which bothers me. Still, I have learned to live with mistakes, after considering how “flaws” often make paintings memorable, more so maybe than perfect or very academically accomplished works, masterworks are irreplaceable, not susceptible to be traced back or condensed in a formula, that’s what I aspire to (humbly and with pride)…
…to continue the long line of figurative painting with meaning, to be another ring in the chain. I only have so much time, you know, there is a set amount of possible paintings I can complete in my given lifetime, so it’s appalling.”
– Gabriel Grun

The sense of urgency and concern in his tone could troublesome people, however as a fellow painter (and a much older one), I understand the games the mind can play, especially when you feel that you have so much to do and so little time to do it in. As far as I can see it, the truth is that an artist will do exactly the amount of work that the universe requires of him, no more and no less. Although, recently, his intentions are to be more joyous, reflected by an approach of playfulness, a freer standpoint, and pointedly contemporary (obviously in a classical manner). This is good to hear and which, I believe, will project him to be highly valued as a painter in the not-to-distant future, who not only surpasses reality but does it with pure magical realism.

See the full article on Art Market Magazine Issue #62