ESPACIO REGULADOR 2006-2008

Pilar Gir, (Historian and art critic)

The search for purity and synthesis are fundamental premises in the development of the
pictorial language of Pablo Rey. In the same way the narrative element in each line is
eliminated in tracing the outline of a space through colour. In this way the presence of the
painting invades the whole discourse, whether it be compositional, sensorial, or emotional. In
Espacio Regulador the brushstroke marked out by the lines are broken but perhaps the
communication between the intervals created between the different strokes becomes more
relevant. A space that can be interpreted as the silence necessary for thought and reflection, a
silence prized in our contemporary society in a world which neither sleeps nor rests. Time
travels fast, the brushstroke too and the gaze pauses before fragments of a whole, fragments
able to seduce and lead one to examine every corner of the canvas.
The contemporary nature of these works can also be found in the passage of time and the
way in which one reads them, where each viewer can set their beginning and end, even
holding back and stopping time in the dialogue depending on the need the perception dictates.
So in the same way Proust searched for his lost time and the brushstrokes of the
Impressionists fought to capture the instant, or Joyce breaking with chronological narrative
and situating different spaces and times on the same plane, drawing us towards cubism;
Pablos painting can bring us closer, in a material sense to the language of information
technology, in which information fluctuates until someone stops it for an instant in order to
absorb it.
The paintings of Pablo Rey, particularly in this series, transmit a sensation of freshness and
spontaneity almost playful, with a firm line, confident, clean, free and relaxed, I would dare to
say, on occasions, even happy. He himself has confirmed that he likes and feels the need to
play like a child, to look for this unbiased freedom which characterizes the daring of childhood,
but on the other hand accepts the need to have a clear idea of what painting is and what it
isnt. Pretending to be a child and delimiting adult behaviour are the guidelines which mark a
work which is designed in terms of the complex equilibrium between rational and emotional
drives that are at the same time fundamental for guiding one through the work of this artist.
Espacio Regulador offers pictorial spaces which encourage and provoke the most varied
sensations to flow from the imagination. In this series many elements appear which can be
found in his previous paintings. The background atmospheres which have been running like a
thread through his work since Landscapes of New York. The dancing line or the calligraphic
quality of the brushstrokes connect with compositions hinted at in Correction, Campo
Policrnico, mbito de Acumulacin and appear to be evolved from Estados Complementarios.
The density of the colour down to the consistency of the paint suggest textures explored
previously in Estados Superpuestos.
From the primitive visceral quality in the impact of the colour, to the most elaborate web of
perceptions hidden in the spontaneous subtlety of a brushstroke which allow the color to float
on the picture plane have an important effect on the space. The compositions that make up
this series allow us to forget the flat pictorial surface of the canvas and give way to a fusion of
the senses: it leaves room for movement in the paths the lines take, for the light within the
shapes or for the sound radiated by the different densities of colour and texture.

The fusion of the senses represents a new reality in the expressive vocabulary. Giving shape to
sensations and impressions, inventing a new language, gives reflection a free rein. This
discourse is what Pablo Rey is transforming into painting. This new space which is vertiginous
in the sense that it suggests similar sensations to those experienced when taking ones first
step alone into a new world, be it solely an interior world that only art can make visible. The
enthusiasm Pablo Rey has for abstract representation comes from the fact that its a type of
expression where the spectator isnt restricted, isnt limited by the various meanings
expressed in recognisable shapes, on the contrary it encourages further reflection.
Pablo Rey conceives his work as a space which is open on itself, converses with the piece
according to his personal means, nothing conditions nor limits the possibility of a reading, at
the same time as it justifies the multiple realities within one single object. Feelings appear in
the work, different elements, structures organized in different ways. In short the picture
appears as an open space where the empathy of each individual can supply his or her own
meaning. The result will be as diverse and varied as the vision itself. The brushstrokes
transform themselves almost by magic into insects, stars, conveyor belts, landscapes seen
close-up, microscopic worlds
And when the picture is finished, before the equilibrium which the pieces display everything
looks as if its where it has always been, as if the white canvas has never existed. This is the
essence of art. In painting the freedom to believe in the light to reveal ones understanding
and share it with the world. As Pablo Rey has said, The picture speaks to me, I see the mark
there before I make it, it tells me where to place it. A dialogue begins between the creative
spirit and what appears on the canvas. Not even a brushstroke is mine; it somehow appears in
front of me.