words of Joaquin Torres-Garcia
‘There is only the present minute - unique- equal to itself - the painting too must be unique’
(Il n’existe que le minute presente- singulier- egale a lui meme- le tableau doit etre, aussi, singulier.)
‘Art is not the reproduction of beautiful things in this world; it is a commentary on these things, made by an artist.
( L’art no es la reproduccio de belles coses d’aquest mon; esmes be un comentari d’aqueixes coses, fet per un artista.)
‘ I remember that a few years ago, in Paris, everyone was asking the same question: What will come after Cubism and Surrealism? I presented the idea during my lecture at Cercle et Carré, in front of some of the very artists who had pioneered those movements. Naturally, the idea was rejected—an idea that would have unified them, giving rise to a new movement. Later, my art began to take hold, and people saw it as something new, not as the natural evolution of those earlier tendencies. We are part of an ongoing evolution—and if that is the case, it should encourage us to remain firm in our position. This evolution is moving toward the great line of art that runs through all time.’
‘ In focusing inward, I seek to grasp clearly the concept that, for me, is bound to the word Art, I realize that it corresponds to a specific function practiced by an individual named an artist. … But since function, whatever it may be, is ultimately a force activated by doing, the function and the thing are inseparable. … Thus, the artist is Art in potential.’
Interview with Torres-Garcia, 1943:
Among my students, there are some who will never be true painters… A painter is born that way, and without that temperament, it’s useless to insist. The same goes for the Constructivist. My role is simply to teach, and for that purpose—without asking for payment—the doors of my studio are open to all.
My lectures broadcasted in the radio(and I’ve already given a hundred, which, added to those given in public or at our Association, now total nearly seven hundred) are all aimed at the same thing: teaching—and teaching everyone.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I must stop here—I have too much to do.
—Do you paint?
—Yes, every day. Right now, I’m working in the studio on something that has nothing to do with imitative realism. I’m trying to get closer to expression—what I call Constructive Realism, which has nothing to do with mimetic realism, and is more in tune with modern expression.
Those sixty canvases you see there were painted over the last three months.
—Do you plan to hold an exhibition?
—Why? My friends come here to see the paintings, and that’s enough for me.
Never before—throughout all my works from 1930 until now—had anyone asked me about the meaning of what I had painted. And now that someone finally has, I feel it’s only fair to offer the public an explanation, however brief, of what I’ve intended. In short: to restore to art the universal and humanist values embodied in antiquity an effort to rediscover a true foundation for artistic creation; to reestablish tradition—understood as the tradition of MANKIND—with the human being taken as the module of measure , this, in turn, becomes the foundation for a coherent and enduring culture. These works are conceived for large-scale execution—as monumental pieces—but the current, smaller versions should still be considered complete and final in themselves. They are intended to be crafted in stone, glass, mosaic, pottery, fresco, fabric—what I consider the noble mediums of past eras. An art that might once have been collective, but now rests on the individual. As for the artwork itself, Its structure is built on enduring, universal principles, and its graphic elements offer only a hint of the same. At its core, this work seeks only to awaken a world that already belongs to us. For this reason, it becomes a language of order.