In Damian Alquichire's paintings, violence is borne calmly. The men and women shown here are resigned to pain. Without complaint, they accept life as the hell that it is. The flames, after all, are warm. A yellow warmth that envelops them. We find the pain of a child looking at his unattainable first love; the longing of a man to find God; the torture of a woman to forget; another woman holding on with all her strength not to fall into the abyss.
The bodies emerge from the flames, as if made by the same fire that consumes them. The violence they suffer is not evident to us. The women's bellies are pierced by light. The gazes are hidden or lost in confusion. Men know they are lonely. And yet, with so much pain, they live without despair. They may be mutilated, hanged, cornered, disappointed, tortured by their own emotions, but the characters in these paintings convey the Christian virtue of resignation. Even in the painting entitled "Cornered," the woman seems to celebrate having arrived at the place where there is no escape.
For many, yellow conveys hope, the light at the end of the tunnel. The series presented by Damián Alquichire is an infectious yellow. As during the autumn, it is about life contemplating its own putrefaction. Life saying goodbye in slow movements that we cannot prevent.
Text by Ana Mardoquea,