The article “Una mirada que atraviesa objetos”published in El Espectador newspaper discusses Colombian painter Carlos Salas’s conscientious work in the painting medium. Salas explores abstraction, the article asserts, with the rigor of his craft. He is particularly interested in how space is perceived in abstraction; the artist embraces the depth of abstraction and the visual relationship that art constructs with the viewer. This article quotes Italian writer Italo Calvino in a discussion of a specific exhibition of work by Salas, one that formulates an encounter between a text by that writer and fragments of other texts relevant to the works in the show in an attempt to eliminate “the visibility of illusory space” in painting. While the title of the Calvino text is not given, it appears to be the book “Why Read the Classics?”

This text discusses how artist Carlos Salas (b. 1957) conceives of painting. It is one of the few articles on his work to appear in the press in which the author voices intelligent arguments, delving into the artist’s work without falling into banality. Salas is widely quoted in this review and a subtle change in the course of his work is insinuated. “It is now more traditional in terms of format and approach to technique,” he states. In earlier series, Salas broke with traditional formats, using parts of earlier works in new productions and generating a sense of depth with methods more sculptural than pictorial. The series in the exhibition reviewed here entails reflection on perception. The one-dimensional illusion of the painting’s surface, envisioned in terms of abstraction and figuration, becomes a topic of debate. The painter argues that such illusions are conventions accepted by the human eye and brain. There can be no doubt but that Salas has pursued a serious line of work mostly around the endless possibilities of the painting medium.  

Though short, the article discusses pictorial problems in contemporary art which considers painting dead or no longer relevant. Salas argues that painting has become a selective medium due to the number of ways of creating now possible in the visual arts. Few dare to truly interrogate painting; for many, it is basically a commercial transaction. In this show, Salas focuses on the idea of “penetrating what is perceived,” a notion that occasions deep thought.  With his words and deeds, he asserts that painting knows no bounds. 

Salas creates a system all his own. His work is the product of a process that wavers incessantly between making and thinking. The rigorous structure of his artistic project took shape during a decade that witnessed excessive commercialization in painting and the boom of Conceptualism in Colombia. It was in this context that Salas was active in alternative art venues, inciting reflection on art as well as criticism of art institutions.