P. Salinas- Rare Acquisition; Teenage Years Painting circa 1924-1926 1
Local gallery unveils a unique and historical acquisition
Peaceful
Creek
Porfirio Salinas (November 6, 1910 – April 18,
1973)
9” x 12”
Oil on board
Circa: 1924-1926
--Every once in a blue moon a fine art
gallery will acquire an unusual and unanticipated artistic gem. Peaceful
Creek by Porfirio Salinas is the title holder
for such an occasion…
Peaceful Creek is
a raw landscape depiction of a rugged river varied with minimal vegetation and jaunt
tree-lines. Circa 1924 to 1926- Peaceful
Creek was ostensibly executed between
the ages of 14-16 years old; Salinas ’s
teenage years reflective of his meeting and mentoring with painter, Robert
William Wood.
An overwhelmingly awkward and domineering tree with its unnatural
bend stands as a homage to an untrained artistic eye- a virgin of artistic
mentorship. A drab color palette lingers on overly mixed, with no one color
popping, pulling, or anchoring the nondescript setting. Working through a
visual depiction of textures, movement, color values and relationships, scale,
and composition, we see Salinas
investigate, struggle, and problem-solve at such an adolescent age. Playing configured volley from left to right;
the main vertical element is haphazardly haggard, drawing the viewer to the insignificant
but centered and visually blurred tree in the hollow background. Bouncing to
the left of center, the gaunt model of sickly arboriculture flexes its gangly
roots that protrude like ingrown nails; painful to look at but necessary for
balance. Directly off this skeletal species of withered shrubbery we are
entranced by the bubbling brook and sparse watery rapids. Bathed with an overabundance of white paint
applications, the rocky diagonal of river rapids leads us into the shallow
mid-grounds of a generic stream and riverbed addresses.
But crude in all its grandiose attempts- the flair, admiration
and celebration of this atypical art piece lies in the artist’s sincere
undertaking. In essence, the unrefined
reverence of such an adolescent artistic epiphany rallies in an overtly outsider
Art Brut gestalt.
© Gabriel Diego Delgado
gabrield@jrmooneygalleries.com
gabrieldelgadoartstudio@yahoo.com
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