Juan Manuel Romero: A Symphony From the Moon

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Warming up the city for the new year, Nothing At All is thrilled to present a solo exhibition dedicated to Argentine artist Juan Manuel Romero who is also known as an active musician, composer and polytonal artist. On view from 13th January to 4th February 2023, the exhibition, titled “A Symphony From the Moon”, features a whimsical and poetic series of mixed media paintings recently created by Romero, who loves to approach art with his musical inter-modalities and guide the audience through his unique visual expression of the auditory through symbols, metaphors, textures and colours.

Born in Argentina, Buenos Aires in 1988, Juan Manuel Romero is a prolific artist. His artworks abound with the echoes of his vibrant life, linking melodies and painting through the embodiment of both artforms. Indeed, his work in either arena is directly fed by the other, where symbols and sounds form a confident crescendo depicting a wordless world, one that arguably represents the nature and movement of the human psyche with greater authenticity than the realms of language do.

The artist’s ethos is tantamount to his creative vision. According to him, #BORNING, featured in this exhibition, is a series of works that represent the awakening of these adorable creatures in a new world. Their eyes wide open, amazed, eager to see everything new to them. #BORNING is an expressive symbiosis of all species. Being born from an egg or a uterus, on earth or in space, they will share the curiosity to discover and relate to the outside world.

On the other hand, Ensueño (dream) is one of his favourite paintings, where the sun, clouds and mountains are combined. In vibrant colours, a fantasy character is projected with a rainbow emerging from his body, who opens his arms to invite the audience to share his “dream” world. This imaginary is immortalised on the canvas, enticing the audience to be part of it.

Romero’s paintings are born from improvisation on a blank canvas. In his mind, the artist projects a sketch that he tries to capture in the work. He looks for them to be expressive works, focusing on the eyes, gestures, and colours, to achieve a powerful painting but with simple lines. These poetic, different characters allow him to emerge and connect with his inner child. Although he takes some of them to series, they are still unique works, like “one shot”.

Known for his “polytonal” approach, which refers to the simultaneous use of two or more musical keys in musical compositions, to art, Romero explains how these two disciplines have been seamlessly merged in his paintings. “My way of interpreting my works is having a rhythmic and melodic pattern, where the rhythm is the colour, and the melody is the character. Just like in a song, there are minor and major keys. The minor tones are cold colours, and the major ones are warm colours. From there arises the tonality and character that the final work will have. The interesting thing about this is that my truth is not necessarily your truth. My way of interpreting it may be different from yours, and what excites me, may not excites you. The same thing happens with music. That is where for me the rich experience of putting music to my paintings ends up merging.”

Romero has featured in numerous solo exhibitions including Feria Equinox in 2021 and The Laura Haber Gallery in 2019. He has also participated in group shows in the same locations and Tinta BA in 2020, BAEX in 2019, and at the Aqua Hotel in Miami, USA. Besides, he has also participated in gallery exhibitions and art fairs in Australia, Spain, South Africa, New York, Argentina, and South Korea. A Symphony From the Moon, his latest exhibition as well as his debut in Hong Kong, will be held at Nothing At All from 13th January 2023.