José Loureiro

The work of José Loureiro (*1961 Mangualde, PT) is all about colour and form, and combines the principles of colour-field painting with geometric abstraction. Each of his pictures takes a basic geometric shape and distorts it through endless repetition. He uses colour to create tension in his compositions, carefully arranging the pigments to maximise their vibrancy. In his works on paper, he shatters the rectangular composition by tilting and turning the template. Accentuating the resulting oblique lines with bright, clear colours causes the grid to recede into the background and draws the viewer's attention to the breakdown of geometry. In his paintings, Loureiro uses shaped canvases to achieve the basic geometric form. He repeats the form of the shaped canvas one or more times on the pictorial surface. Extremely reduced, the canvases shrink to a narrow strip. The piece entitled "Luz Máxima" comprises 20 individual canvases arranged in a specific sequence to form a large-scale panel painting. He lends transparent colours a plasticity, luminosity and spatial presence by applying them to an extremely smooth white surface. The serial repetition references the eternal quest for a new interpretation of the most basic form.