Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5
Alexandro SANTANARape on the border, 2007
About the Item
You meet the Spanish artist Alexandro Santana and you think, cripes, can he be for real? So handsome, so flamboyant, so seductive, so amusing -- you’re not sure whether it’s intentional or inadvertent. And then you discover he is the son of a notorious Dominican admiral, that the tyrannical dictator Trujillo was best man at his parents’ wedding, that his mother was a fabled high-society beauty, that he grew up on battleships and estancias before going, inevitably, to Brown.
Even more surprisingly, Santana stayed in Providence for graduate studies at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he received his degree in architecture, soon plying his trade in Manhattan and his adopted city of Savannah, where he eventually set up his own firm. Astonishingly, in this era of CAD, he draws every detail entirely by hand.
Considering his tweeds, his bow ties, his drawl and debonair dress, it is perhaps not surprising to learn that Santana’s architectural taste is strongly neo-classical, inspired by the vernacular Palladianism of antebellum Georgia, with of course a touch of the Postmodern.
Santana’s detailed and decorous architectural plans for his clients are complemented by drawings created for solely for himself -- exotic imaginary cityscapes and urban fantasias, like the dreams of Sir John Soane channeled through Aldo Rossi or John Hejduk. One’s appreciation of these drawings is enriched in turn by Santana’s pencil portraits of friends and lovers, personal sketches of disarming intimacy.
Santana’s line has a languid, fluid eroticism to it which perfectly suits his subjects; he touches them all with a graphite whisper coaxing them to appear.
But the surprise within the Santana oeuvre is his series of large-scale abstractions, outrageously bright and scandalously juicy paintings that were recently on view at the Besharat Gallery in Atlanta. The setting was indeed a fine and dramatic one, the scale and grandeur of its spaces, with walls of pure local granite, hardly better suited to a display of riotous color and anarchic vigor.
Some of Santana’s works bear hints of fragmentary imagery, from guns and weapons to genitals and guts, as if indexing a sublime violence matched by the savagery of his palette and his brushwork. In the 48 x 60 in. oil Haecceitia, for instance, formless blotches of rose and pale blue sprout a black line drawing of a foot in a high heel, or a series of louche paint marks that might well be lipstick kisses.
Clearly, more is going on here than idle expressionism. His exhibition title lends a clue: "Haecceitia: Homage à Michel Foucault." Plumbing the catalogue essay, it becomes clear that Santana is seeking not decorative effect or personal expression, but rather is making a stab at painterly semiotics, an open-ended mode of signification ("haecceity" can be translated as "thisness") that the artist claims "takes on a pictorial platform" in his work.
Whether or not Santana’s paintings rise to this philosophically mystical level, they certainly have an artistic flamboyance and wit that is as eccentrically remarkable as the artist himself. And that should be enough for anyone’s first major solo exhibition.
- Creator:Alexandro SANTANA (1965, Spanish)
- Dimensions:Height: 36 in (91.44 cm)Width: 36 in (91.44 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:ATLANTA, GA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU155528676232
About the Seller
5.0
Vetted Seller
These experienced sellers undergo a comprehensive evaluation by our team of in-house experts.
Established in 2008
1stDibs seller since 2021
16 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: 12 hours
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: ATLANTA, GA
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 14 days of delivery.
More From This SellerView All
- Ranger RiderLocated in ATLANTA, GAYou meet the Spanish artist Alexandro Santana and you think, cripes, can he be for real? So handsome, so flamboyant, so seductive, so amusing -- you’...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil
- Nobody at HomeBy Thornton Dial, Sr.Located in ATLANTA, GAIn Thornton Dial's assemblage, masklike faces with staring eyes and open mouths emerge from a dense maze of layers streaked in red, white, blue, and black. Ropes painted brown snake over the surface, twisting into bodies that stretch from one side of the painting to the other. Additional objects have been attached to the surface—a paint-covered metal grill at the top and a wire rack on the right edge, for example—which accentuate the artwork's sculptural appearance. The resulting lattice of colors, forms, and objects gives the impression that, if the artwork's strata were excavated, much more could be discovered. In many respects, "excavation" is an appropriate way to approach Top of the Line (Steel).By layering paint and objects that Dial collects from around his home in Bessemer, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham, the artist creates a series of evocative relationships. Dial encourages viewers to look closely at the artwork, excavating meaning from the interplay of forms and even from the title, which has several interpretations. For example, "top of the line" refers both to a position in an assembly line...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil
- L'automne en forêtBy Adrien SCHULZLocated in ATLANTA, GAAdrien Schulz was a French painter who was born in 1851. Adrien Schulz's work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from $60 USD to $2,337 USD, de...Category
20th Century Abstract Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil
- Philip the II's CrimeLocated in ATLANTA, GAYou meet the Spanish artist Alexandro Santana and you think, cripes, can he be for real? So handsome, so flamboyant, so seductive, so amusing -- you’...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil
- China PlightLocated in ATLANTA, GAYou meet the Spanish artist Alexandro Santana and you think, cripes, can he be for real? So handsome, so flamboyant, so seductive, so amusing -- you’...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil
- Green Proto WritingBy Edward PoveyLocated in ATLANTA, GAPovey was born in the gas-lit and devastated post-War London, the only child of a merchant seaman and a pretty shop girl. He studied drawing in England, oil glazing in Wales, and bec...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil
You May Also Like
- Dreamy EveningBy Suzanne WinnLocated in London, GBBrand new artwork from Hampshire, England based landscape artist Suzanne Winn. A soft colour palette and light brushstrokes aim to capture the delicate, dreamy feeling of a winters ...Category
2010s Abstract Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil
- Catching the Light: Glowing Sky VBy Suzanne WinnLocated in London, GBHampshire based artist Suzanne Winn's “Catching The Light Series” was painted during the winter of 2020/2021. During the darkest days of the pandem...Category
2010s Abstract Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil
- House By A LakeBy Paul GuiramandLocated in Berlin, MDPaul Guiramand (French 1926-2007) Abstract painting of a house by a lake. Oil on Canvas. Expressive blues of the water and sky with greens reds, brow...Category
Mid-20th Century Abstract Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- Evening at Marble Hill BayBy Tuëma PattieLocated in Petworth, GBOil on card. Framed. Signed.Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil
- Owl LightLocated in Crested Butte, COOwl Light is part of the “Path to Eminence” series by Meghan Wilbar. During the pandemic, the uncertainty and isolation led Wilbar on a new series of wo...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil, Wood Panel
- NightfallLocated in Crested Butte, CONightfall is part of the “Path to Eminence” series by Meghan Wilbar. During the pandemic, the uncertainty and isolation led Wilbar on a new series of work depicting the roads that l...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Impressionist Landscape Paintings
MaterialsOil, Wood Panel
Recently Viewed
View AllMore Ways To Browse
Border Art
Rose Border
Large Impressionist Painting Spain
Painting Before The Wedding
Green Granite
Classical Rose Painting
Green High Heels
High Heels With Bow
Postmodern Wall Art
Pale Green Dress
Bow Platform Heels
The Rape Of
Blue Wedding Dress
Black Bow High Heels
Green Heels Platform
Green Wedding Dress
Graphite Landscape Sketch
48x60 Wall Art