Nelo Vinuesa
Spain · 1980
Nelo Vinuesa (b. 1980, Valencia, Spain) treats the blank sheet or canvas as a map still to be drawn: forms are not planned but discovered through the act of painting itself, so that color and gesture reveal a structure that did not exist before the work began.
Vinuesa mixes his own colors rather than working from prepared paint, treating hue as psychologically and culturally resonant rather than purely decorative, each palette built to carry a specific emotional register drawn from memory or lived experience. Landscape functions in his work less as depicted scenery than as a structure for thinking about human existence, remembered or imagined terrain rather than a place observed and recorded; against this chromatic atmosphere, Vinuesa lays down a linear structure in black or dark pigment, marks that read as maps, fissures, or root systems cutting across fields of color.
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Interview · Jennifer Earthman · January 15, 2021
Nelo Vinuesa in the Studio
Nelo Vinuesa’s vibrant abstractions stem from the artist’s deep connection to both color and the natural landscape. Vinuesa believes color is culturally and anthropologically resonant; as a result, the artist mixes his own colors in order to create hues that represent a certain psychological state or emotion stemming from his own life experience. Vinuesa is also deeply inspired by the landscape, viewing it as revelatory of our own existence, describing it as both inspiration and expression with regard to his painting. His work carries on abstract expressionism’s action painting legacy as he works quickly and intuitively in such a way that one can imagine the artist’s movements. Though he focuses on painting, the artist has also worked in audiovisual and video mediums, and cites them as important influences in his work. His paintings are personal yet strive to resonate to all through the expression of essential, universal emotions. Vinuesa studied fine art at the Polytechnic University of Valencia in Spain, and has been included in solo and group exhibitions worldwide. He has also been awarded grants and residencies in both London and Madrid.
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