Speaking to Bilbao-based painter Luis Olaso about his effusive, florid canvases, the conversation does not centre on form, colour, or even aesthetics. Instead, Olaso describes a mental exercise and chronicles the cognitive phases of his creative process.
Eight large canvases fill the lofty 180m2 expanse of JD Malat’s ground floor gallery, the colours so rich and engulfing that they seem not only to drown out the whiteness between each piece, but also of themselves. Each canvas is at least one third to half white, if not a shade of cream, however this is relatively inperceivable due to the persuasive presence of the palette.
The paintings combine gestural figuration with mark-making, often juxtaposing built layers of colour and texture with areas that remain strikingly bare, exposing the untreated beige of canvas like naked skin – a moment of intrigue and respite. Initially reading as abstract, transcendental, and romantic, Olaso’s utilitarian sensibility gives the work a minimalist objectivity that is unexpected.
