Urban landscapes by Cristóbal Pérez Garcia

In this era of digital photography, of Instagram and of WhatsApp, a painted image is somewhat of a transgression. Cristóbal Pérez Garcia’s work is like a mantra for slowing down and is the testimony of that consummate optical filter: the touch of a hand, the stroke of a brush.



Here at Livegreenblog, we’ve got a bit of a thing about the visual culture and city spaces, which are exactly what Cristóbal Pérez Garcia combines in his cityscapes.
Spanish artist “Toval”, whose real name is Cristóbal Pérez Garcia graduated in Fine Arts from the university of Granada, majoring in painting and sculpture. His education and his in-depth knowledge of painting techniques, in addition to his interest for cities are behind his “Urban Landscapes”. 





At first sight, these cityscapes sort of alienate whoever is looking at them: the fact is that we are so used to shots taken by mobile devices, to the ocean of digital images that inundate us every day, that we end up back-footed when confronted with an oil painting on canvas. Not so much because of the medium (the canvas) or even the technique (oil painting) as for the content of a form that in our common mindset is not associated with contemporary life. 





We don’t expect to see in a painting the busy New York traffic, although the concept isn’t all that different from eighteenth-century painted landscapes. 



So Cristóbal Pérez Garcia contrasts the pre-packaged filter of Instagram or the digital post-production of Photoshop with his own interpretation of the city spaces he has visited, giving them a new human dimension.
Modern places and images, fixed on a tangible, traditional blackout-proof medium. The artwork of Cristóbal Pérez Garcia is on show in Barcelona, from 5 to 18 March 2015.

(Christiane Bürklein)

Paisaje urbano
Exhibition, 5 - 18 March 2015, Galeria D'art Mar. C/Pau Claris, 120 - Barcelona, Spain
Cristóbal Pérez Garcia
http://www.cristobalperezgarcia.com/