Orange Fake Abstract (Bouguereau)

Lino Lago reproduces Bouguereau's masterpiece, “Gabrielle Cot,” from 1890. The Madrid-born artist covers the protagonist's face with a layer of red hue. The curvilinear opening, untouched by color, allows us to glimpse Gabrielle. The girl's penetrating gaze touches our soul. Her green eyes are extraordinarily beautiful. The ivory leather conveys delicacy. The contrast between the veil of color and the work that can be seen is strong. The juxtaposition is cacophonous. A click on the computer that accidentally cloaks the work. You can not go back. The only way to eliminate color is to erase it. Another contrast between contemporaneity and the past. Another Fake Abstract.

Lino Lago's technical mastery in reproducing the young lady protagonist of Bouguereau's work is extraordinary. The artist, born in 1973, knows well the rigidity of academic rules. In fact, the painter graduated from the school of Fine Arts at the University of Madrid. The rigid teachings learned during his studies called into question his certainties about art. His teachers teach him the superiority of academic figurative art over other types of art. This concept, however, is refuted by Lino Lago. For him, there is no typology of pictorial representation that can be defined as superior. And lo and behold, this reasoning triggers something in his mind. Why not try to make two antithetical pictorial styles coexist together? Why must art be placed within rigid schemes? Why can't academic figurative art merge with abstract art? The answer to these questions is his series of works “Fake Abstract.”