DIEGO BENÉITEZ june 22

DIEGO BENÉITEZ
ZAMORA, 1986
Painter of atmosphere, light, air and water particles. Benéitez's work is a window to the outside world. His ability to capture those magical moments when the first rays of sunrise appear, or the last moments of light before sunset that he shapes into a totally contemporary landscape, stands out.
In order to contemplate his paintings one must play with distances. From a distance it seems to be a totally abstract work: we can observe the gradation of colours, alternation of lights and shadows that confer a rhythm that directs and calls us to advance towards the background of the landscape. As we get closer we begin to see that there is a horizon line where trees, houses, lamp posts and towers are cut out. Especially those Castilian towers dot the territory through which Benéitez moves. And finally, already in front of the work, we discover the accents, those touches of paint here and there skilfully placed so that the eyes of the spectator jump from one to another and travel along that strip that separates earth and sky.
Generally of square format, one of the characteristics of Diego Benéitez's paintings is that they have the capacity to make the living space bigger. As we said before, they are real windows.
On the other hand there are the drawings. Smaller in size and on paper, this artist's carefree and jovial personality is more evident. The stain, the brushstroke or the technique change, but not the essence or the quality. It can be said that Benéitez is more daring in this section, in which he includes sprays and the factor of chance, he plays with the background of the paper and more contrasting colours. The result is works full of strength that, sometimes, reach a higher level of abstraction.