Gerardo Ramirez

Gerardo Ramirez was born in Mexico City in 1966. He studied graphic design at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana and has worked in advertising as a creative director in Mexico and Germany, where he learned to make subtle but powerful statements. Although Ramirez’s work does not borrow directly from advertising as pop art, it is possible to see the influence and art form of quick ideas and bold statements in the works that engage the viewer in an almost visceral way.

For Ramirez handler maleri ikke om at praktisere en kunstform, det er en livsstil, at opleve og forstå verden. Værkerne opererer i en verden mellem fysiske ting og ideer, der giver håndgribelig form til hans oplevelse. Værkerne er abstrakte, men giver publikum mulighed for at deltage i det visuelle sprog ved at lave subtile referencer, som vi i fællesskab kan værdsætte. De levende farver fra musik og urban visuals, vinklerne i arkitektoniske former eller topografier af kortlægning og landskab giver alle publikum en fornemmelse af noget, de har set, hørt eller følt.

På denne måde finder han samtidig en balance mellem det figurative og det abstrakte, med en meget legende sammenvævning af maleriske teknikker. Organiske former og gestusmaleriske mærker deler et meget håndgribeligt rum med geometri og næsten mekaniske former. Det føles som et spil mellem den ydre verden og den indre oplevelse, hvor der er kollision mellem et universelt sprog og noget mere intuitivt og personligt. Ved at navigere i dette felt af grafiske og maleriske processer tillader Ramirez de grafiske elementer at give et hurtigt fingerpeg om, hvad der sker i billedet, uden at give for meget væk. De driver publikum mod en idé, mens de mere flydende og personlige berøringer kommer ind i diskursen på en subtil måde.

Ramirez’s process is far from mechanical. As an art director, he interacts with several paintings at a time, balancing and playing with ideas, trying to coax an image out of the canvas and express its own potential. The graphic design influences from his studies give an underlying maturity to the colors, while the bright colors and boldness are an attempt to compete with the ubiquity and advancement of technology and its encroachment on visual culture. This competition never feels desperate, but rather playful and an experience of joy. The work is certainly a meditation on juxtaposition, not in a way to show how one element is better than the other, but to allow the differences to stand out and be celebrated in the way that musical notes celebrate each other in combination.