Francisca Blázquez, creator of Dimensionalism

By Joan Lluís Montané
 

An appraisal of the paintings of Francisca Blázquez (born in Madrid in 1966) must begin with the geometrical discourse of forms and the progression of the transformation of the structure-color, conceived within the parameters of continuous movement. An international artist, fluent in many techniques, she is showing at the Rina Bouwen Gallery in Madrid(Jan. 15-Feb. 27) her latest output of paintings in acrylics on canvas. It is characterized by her clear reliance on the complexity of forms, inasmuch as she is the creator of the artistic movement called Dimensionalism.

Francisca Blázquez has a long history of shows in various countries. She participated in a great variety of collective shows from an early age, especially in the 1980s when she had her first individual show at the Austellungsraum Gallery in Basel, Switzerland, directed by Harry Zellweger. In 1993, she twice showed her paintings, installations and performance art at the Anselmo Alvarez Gallery in Madrid, which she then took to ARCO for several editions. At that gallery, faithful to her multimedia spirit, she executed a video performance she had conceived especially for the show, complemented by an installation that made space-time statements and posited the dichotomy of the transformation of form and color as the dynamistic agent. Later, in 1998, these elements led to the crystallization of her theory of Dimensionalism.

Her jewelry, sculpture, etchings, paintings, drawings, installations, performances, photographs, digital photographs, net.art and artistic animations are created within a common denominator based on the freedom of procedure. Her individual shows number more than 30 in 10 countries; she has participated in about 200 collective exhibitions.

The Madrid-born artist is a seeker of light, beauty and harmony in a world as inextricable and complex as ours. In her studio, she gets her inspiration by looking at the sun, watching the clouds, smelling the breeze, breathing the fresh air from the sierra. Whenever she can, she flees to the Mediterranean Sea, where she recharges her energies. In 1997, after taking individual shows to various cities in Spain, she presented another multimedia show at the 417 Gallery in Madrid, with paintings, sculptures, performance art and video performances.

In the latter context, she did a live performance structuring space and movement with her geometrical approach, displaying a dynamic concept of form. “My choreography dealt with the need for structural boundaries that had to be overcome, without changing their substance. In reality, it was a very measured choreography, with concrete timing within an established order, avoiding the gestural, expressive approach,” said Blázquez.

Later, she contacted the Miquel Gaspar Gallery in Barcelonaand did a show there, displaying works noted for the transformation of form and color. Then she began a tour of museums, galleries and art centers in Spain and Colombia, until in 2001 she put on a show at the 500-square-meter Body Factory in Madrid, on Luis Mitjans Street. It was an installation allegoric to spring, featuring plastics and paintings on industrial canvases more than 10 meters long. In this manner, she gave the inner space a fundamental role: to become one with the paintings and the installation as a whole. Space is seen as three-dimensional and the work itself as a contribution of the various dimensions. And in this manner she invites the viewer to enter and stroll inside the artistic world she has created.

Dimensionalism, i.e., the overcoming of boundaries, became a fact. At the same time, she presented two video creations, one of them by the Madrid photographer Ricardo Santonja, gestural and chromatic, based on the choreography for an experimental dance to contemporary jazz. It was Blázquez’s allegory to spring, performed by Goya Awards dancer, Natalia. The other video creation was taped by art critic Joan Lluis Montané and was based on the same allegory to spring but had a more conceptual touch.

“To complete that performance and the installation, in addition to the video showings, I integrated into the setting different zones, spaces and elements of the building itself, which – outside their normal context – assumed their own autonomy. Also, I showed paintings within the same space. The result was multidimensional and emerged from the variety of media,” Blázquez said. Later, she took her shows on an international tour: Portugal, Denmark, France, Argentina, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Italy, the Principality of Andorra, the United States, Canada and other countries.

At present, Blázquez works with the Miquel Gaspar galleries (a second gallery is under construction), and the galleries of Antoni Pinyol, Paqui Delgado, Marci Gaymur, Rina Bouwen, the Nim Gallery, the Macor Gallery, and the Berruet Pavilion.

She is interested in photography, video and digital art, carrying out diverse and complex creative animations within the context of her dimensionalist project. Although some of her works are not specifically linked to geometry, most posit the extent of formal movement, of geometry within redimensionalism; they reveal the experimentation of color in line with the flexibilization of structures created within a concept of density. All of her works are subject to continuous changes of aspect.

It’s the new dimensional geometry, which is interested not in construction or in formal external play but in the constant lucubration of its contents. That is why her acrylic paintings have the same dimensional attitude.

“My current creation is composed of very elaborate works, with a predominance of relief, because I have abandoned flat painting and turned to dimensionality,” Blázquez said. Color continues to be important, but also is her circular, multiform and multifaceted vision. Her creative attitude promotes an intense expressiveness, shaded by the elegance of her pictorial discourse, which has space for new formulations and the search for the beauty of what undoubtedly will become the geometrical abstraction of the future.

Her restless spirit prompted her to create a digital animation that tells the story of the romance between the rose and the nightingale. The flower wants to fly and the nightingale gives her its wings, thus making the rose’s dream come true. Those wings have become the Angel collection of jewelry, made of silver and precious stones, although some works are in gold. The inter-relationship of the various media is a constant reality in her creations.

With works on display at the U.B.S. (Union of Swiss Banks), the Swiss Banking Corporation, Argentaria, private corporations in Basel, the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Japan, the Anfora Nova de Rute Museum, Gentes de Forastía, FIDE and others, Francisca Blázquez is consolidating her presence in the international market of contemporary art.

“What’s important is to create, to honestly express what one feels,” she says. “It’s like the transparent water that flows over the stones on the riverbed, filled with energy and desire to reach the sea, but traveling along an established route that must be followed.”

Joan Lluís Montané is member of the International Association of Art Critics.