Geometrical Communication
Jaime Gil Combines Shape and Substance in a Language All His Own

By Angie Hargot

The force in Jaime Gil’s work centers on not simply the artist’s interaction with them, but the qualities of the materials themselves. As paint and wax are ‘encrusted’ upon the surfaces via the method of layering and tachistic manipulation known as encaustic (or the application of pigmented hot wax in painting), the substances become multi-dimensional, and the shapes become substance.
And the geometry is most important.

Not only is it Gil’s most poignant language,
it also quite possibly reinvents the discourse
surrounding his work. He’s been considered
an Action Painter, a constructivist, an Abstract Expressionist. Although his paintings do produce the initial frenetic reaction of a Pollack, the wax he manipulates into more monochomistic pieces goes further to create a sense of serenity.

Although there is often a dizzying combination of materials and color that create the effect — the
oil paint beneath is often transformed through the layers of transparent and tinted wax — Gil’s careful contrast is soothing.

His use of geometry often manifests in slight concentrations of circles producing the sensation of perspective, goal, and the calming prospect of a light at the end of a tunnel. Th e circle itself is symbolic of time and the infi nite. Th e comfort of completion. Th e most effi cient shape in nature. As common to Islamic as to Romanesque art, the circle combined with the square in Gil’s work comes to symbolize structure. Perhaps not the dialetic of Heaven and Earth, but most certainly the material terms of movement and change.

Indeed, if the shape of the canvas or the mass of the sculpture in any one of Gil’s pieces are to be considered quadralaterals themselves, the containment of shape within shape goes still further, inspiring a new verbal and emotional framework around the pieces, capturing at least the infi nitude of a night sky.

Gil has taken part in dozens of group and solo exhibitions throughout Europe and North America.

How did it all start?
When I was a little boy I found myself attracted to building scale models of cars, ships and boats. I also developed the skills to copy and create cartoons. Then I started painting with oils, all as a hobby, until I sold my first painting to a well-known collector when I was in school.

Tell us about your education.
I was educated in Mexico City at “La Esmeralda,” Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas (ENAP) and Escuela Nacional de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado (ENPEG), and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
México (UNAM).

How do you describe your artistic vision?
I became attracted to organic and geometrical shapes, which I found at random on a daily basis. I captured them in photographs, and then put them onto canvas.

What are some of the challenges or benefits in working with wax, or other materials, in this unconventional way?
Because I was attracted to organic shapes, I found wax as an organic media and started to experiment with it until I found all the privileges wax affords, such as transparency and texture. Your work explores the relationships between shapes, as well as the relationships between color and textures. I research as much as I can the relationship between organic shapes which I find hard to understand or explain, and geometrical
shapes humans create to communicate, ending in my own form of self-expression.

What is the most flattering comment you’ve ever received about your work?
“Unique.”

The most insulting?
Nobody has insulted me yet — I don’t feel insulted by a critique.

Your pieces seem to fit as well in a corporation’s lobby as they would on the wall of a collector’s home. What do you think about your work in a business setting versus a private environment?
I feel fine anywhere, as long as it is shown to the public.

What do you see in the art world and art market in general?
The way humans document life.

How was Art Basel for you?
I think Art Basel is the resume of what is happening in the contemporary art world. And I’m thankful, because my work was well-received.

See more of Jaime Gil’s work at JaimeGil.com, and the Art Center of South Florida, 924 Lincoln Road, Miami
Beach, Studio 208.

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