Artist’s Statement

My work has had ample time to evolve over more than half a century, a period in which I don’t remember having been idle or hesitant with the brushes one single week, and my only act of procrastination was, perhaps, to insist on some repetitions or abundances, thematic or formal, always in the sincere search for the precise expression. In the early years (1956–1989), I found venues in the neo-figurative school, where I had the opportunity to dwell on its quasi-simultaneous origins in South America and New York. (This movement was in New York mostly through Latin artists who, like me, nevertheless took legitimate advantage of some later American expressionists, those whom we found akin, so with a familiar vocabulary and without hesitancy we made the cultural connection.)

In 1990, I took a sharp turn toward a more “fitting” plastic realm in order to explore, unhindered by any storytelling, the abstract expressive possibilities of my chromatic and compositional tendencies. I decided to deconstruct my figures by submitting the forms to some synthetic process from which they would reemerge organized in a way that conveys believable moral concepts. I based my hopes on the assumption that form inherently contains the property to reveal some function; therefore, an association of concrete shapes in a chromatic dialogue will end up with an identifiable entity. In this marvelous journey I can see myself nearing a certain appointment with my older style as my figures resurface in a somehow preordained Arcimboldesque resolution.

josé-maría cundín

Burukide II (Basque Political Transfigure), 1994 oil on linen, 58 x 50 in.

josé-maría cundín

Matisse Tempted by the Solitary Sin, 2010 oil on linen, 62 x 58 in.

josé-maría cundín

The Complex Candidate, 2008 oil on linen, 54 x 50 in.

josé-maría cundín

Crespular Portrait of H. M. Juan Carlos of Spain, 2008 oil on linen, 58 x 52 in.

josé-maría cundín

The Notable Northshore Notable, 2008 oil on linen, 58 x 50 in.

josé-maría cundín

Carlos Gardel Singing Muneca Brava, 2010 oil on canvas, 37 x 41 in.

josé-maría cundín

Fidel Castro in a Rare Moment of Silence, 2010 oil on canvas, 42 x 45 in.

josé-maría cundín

Cayetana, La Musa Sempiterna, 2008 oil on linen, 58 x 50 in.