Comments by ios

 Ana Pardo accepts that all well done work requires attention at every stage of its development because she is convinced that through her work she will be able to develop as an artist and as a person: "The more deeply we meditate on elements which describe mythological, esoteric, mysterious and allegorical worlds, elements which describe wonders, secrets and epics, the more evocative our work will be when it displays this atmosphere, the more suggestive our very dreams will be when we are asleep, the weaker our awareness will be in the development of real life." (Ana Pardo).

This shows us that each of Ana Pardo’s works is born of a ‘story’. In the first stage, her greatest pleasure is to know what humanity contributes to this story. If, as is said, there is no element of human thought, however intricate, that was not conceived by the Greeks, just imagine if history is prolonged 2000 years more. In this case, and this is a special feature of Ana Pardo, she begins her work not just by viewing all the material within her reach; as well, and more importantly, if she thinks it appropriate, she begins by copying some of it. Ana copies not just to get an accurate reflection of the model but to discover the grace of the brushstroke, the arrangement of the chromatic spectrum, the composition of the masses, in short ,to extract pictorial concepts changing aspects of the model depending on whether or not she wishes to apply the ideas gathered beforehand. A clear example:

A copy which changes radically the interpretation of the model. Here she tried to do more than absorb the charm and magic of the stroke: she played with expressive elements in order to discover something new in the arrangement and structure of the apodictic elements of the shape. And she actually did it. The interpretation of the study of Carracci is clear: we gradually discover the greatness of the grove as we look upwards and from left to right (in this case an axis for the light and a diagonal for the shade) and then look down towards the anecdotal point of the composition. The grove stands as guardian and shelter of the undefined element. Ana, breaking from the outset basic rules of light and space, gets us to look even higher if possible, keeping the feeling of greatness; only afterwards, when we reach the peak, do we look down and rest on the base: we then discover a rich range of blends.. The grove becomes more than a vigorous, noble being; through our calm, observant attitude we discover its poetical aspect.

This is how Ana Pardo copies, with ‘intention’, the true vehicle of artistic expressiveness and the source of completely new creation. ‘My Magic Tree’ and ‘Memory in a single brushstroke, which I will discuss later, are not a starting point to produce an original work about trees. The theme of trees has always been very suggestive in Ana Pardo’s expressive conception, which at this point and after seeing her origins should not come as a surprise. Although she has painted a lot on this theme we can only display the only surviving work, ‘Tree of Oblivion’.

Her notes on nature are as scarce as the photograph on this page is exceptional. For Ana, reality is simply a support for ideograms which she must change and reorganize to achieve an expressive purpose. But she also bears in mind that without recognizing this reality we would have no significance and so complex communication would be impossible. Nature offers the elements, the artist arranges them and it is this very meaning that determines the choice of study method: "the ideas which can be gathered from nature are useful but always limited to the experience of my own life, by rejecting this method and studying the great masters I can obtain experiences, contributions and ideas from a million lives in one and it is this wealth which will make my work more fluid and imaginative." (Ana Pardo).

This page has two purposes: one is romantic and the other is closer to post modernist tendencies. Can we say in both cases that she kept to an accurate representation of reality ? What reality ?.

When I asked her what reality should be seen in ‘My Magic tree’, Ana told me the story of her watercolour:

My Magic Tree

"Nobody, however agnostic, is not tempted to deposit their most secret hopes and dreams in someone or something to receive and bear them. For centuries in the West the chosen receiver has usually been social utopias, famous people or inanimate objects (amulets, talismans, medals etc.); not for me. Closer to Celtic spirituality, I sense that there is in the world a tree whose destiny is linked to mine, this is the only tree that will let my highest feelings rest. I still haven’t seen it, it is still waiting for me, and until the day I find it I imagine it with my paints. Here is my tree, in the middle of a little clearing, where I will go when my spirit is overtaken by loneliness because my tree will keep watch over my emotions, will speak to me, and there, next to its trunk, I will fulfil my promises, I will start my projects, and when my tree puts its branches on my shoulder the touch of its leaves will remove bad omens, sweeten my character and write quietly the title of my next work."   

I saw it and had sensed it before she had told me about it and I must confess that for a moment it had almost become ‘My magic tree’. But let’s look at her other work, ‘Memory in a Single Brushstroke’. Although the title seems to describe metaphorically the base of its elaboration, it wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that it achieves it in almost every aspect.
One of Ana Pardo’s interests within her wide range of pictorial aspects is ‘compositional synthesis’. When Ana synthesises her painting, this doesn’t mean that she reduces the motif to its minimal expression; rather, she simplifies the theme as much as possible without the composition losing any of its grace and elegance.

POf course, as well as her own synthesis of the world, she introduces in each of the examples displayed other compositional elements which make her handling more complex. Every example has a common denominator which we can extrapolate to the picture we are studying: although the theme is dictated by the form, it is the colour alone which gives it life. These pictures ARE A SUBLIME DESCRIPTION OF PAINTING as a noble art; it is painting which gives these pictures interest, expressiveness and character; it is colour which governs our narrative perception.

Do you think that ‘Memory in a single brushstroke, which is a more reformist work in its style, has not received every technical care ? Here is the account which Ana Pardo gave:

Memory in a single brushstroke

This watercolour synthesises the different memories which a landscape that is very dear to me , the dam of Vega de Tera and its trees, produced at different times. The trees are simple not majestic, yet the artist sees landscapes not trees and out of something apparently ordinary can bring the magic of all that is alive, even if those who don’t pay attention to it don’t see it. This tree is a summary and representation of the whole bank, from the tallest black poplars to the smallest bushes, it is the living reflection of the life which saw me grow.
This work wasn’t born by sitting in the physical space, instead it was generated by memories, brought together in a single brushstroke like mechanical writing, an idea which is felt and goes directly from the brain to the hand, which moves across the paper practically without being raised. The wavy lines try to capture the whole in a single tree, in a single stroke, the colour is responsible for blowing life into each of them. The colours are dominated by the cold spectrum of greens, lit up by cold yellows, which gives the picture a certain nostalgia precisely because of the yearning for the landscape. But there is also room for warm touches from the range of dark greys and more cheerful blues which indicate that these trees will certainly always be waiting for me, that they are still alive in this place which is so dear to me. The way the colour is applied in irregular shadings isn’t only a stylistic or decorative device: it reflects the individuality of each tree which takes shape in each shading: these shadings together form a whole. Some shadings are separate, others blend together, speaking to us of the underlying intimacy between all the elements of the landscape. Water is also present both physically because it is used to apply the washes and as a signifier since we are examining a natural space dominated by a river.
I wanted it o be a watercolour because paper is a natural support made from other trees which no longer exist but which now live in this artistic space.

When I consider the picture of course I don’t see ‘her bank’ but I do notice its movement, its freshness, I realise that here I could sit in the shelter of its thick overgrowth to read a book, I imagine the birds moving between the leaves or a little mouse next to the trunk and I feel them without them being there, I se a cheerful place where you could hold a party and fill its space with sounds of laughter, bagpipes and violins. I don’t really see the bank exactly as she drew it but I see all its life. It gets a smile out of me.
Ana Pardo, has fulfilled the task of ‘ART’ even in her most avant-garde version.