ANTONIO GONZÁLEZ

What captivates me about Antonio González’s painting is how tension emerges from the minimal, and how his work manages to be both raw and delicate at the same time; as if its meaning, its form or image, remained always latent, on the verge of surfacing and projecting itself, yet never fully consummating.

This reflection by curator David Barro in his book Antes de irse – 40 ideas sobre la pintura encapsulates an essential quality in Antonio González’s work: painting as a space for reflection and contemplation. Twenty-five years of artistic practice have led the Alicante-born artist along a path of constant transformation. His early works were linked to gestural painting, with elemental forms (the line, the circle, and the square), primary colors, and structures rooted in geometric abstraction. Over time, however, his work has evolved toward more organic and liberated situations.

The series presented here reflects this transition toward a more ethereal and light abstraction. The tonalities have shifted: pure colors give way to more natural, earthy hues. Some compositions, resolved in two colors, create relationships and rhythms that feel almost musical across the canvas surface. Painting becomes a field of resonance, where space and form do not seek to represent but simply to exist.

In this pursuit, the support takes on a singular prominence. Throughout his career, Antonio González has worked on various materials such as linen, cardboard, and wood; yet in his recent works, he has found in burlap a new expressive ally. Its rough texture, volume, and color acquire significant protagonism, reinforced by the peripheral space left unpainted. The backgrounds, deeply worked, contrast with circles executed with agility and spontaneity. Alongside these burlap pieces, the artist also presents small-format works on linen, where minimal, subtle gestures dialogue with empty grounds.In Stones and Flowers, painting asserts itself as the absolute protagonist. There is no narrative: only matter, light, and gesture. Meaning lies on the surface, in the structure and in the movement. Thus, the work opens itself to uncertainty, inviting the viewer to a perceptual experience without mediation.