Painting, if we follow a popular saying, must only be analyzed “after time”. We can talk, write and discuss about how in a specific period of time this or that was painted, in one way or another, in order to set the evolution of painting since “Atapuerca” till what humankind may reach. But one must not try to label the time when the artist is carrying out his work, and among other reasons because it is a way of inhibit the artist, though minimally, in his process of creativity. Another major reason is because he who labels the work has not done it, nor was he in the skin of the one who created it at that moment.

Some ask themselves if then, when facing a work of art, one must “see, listen and keep quiet”; and I would answer them that that is not far from my thoughts. Of course you must see the work! Of course, you have to listen to everybody who wants to talk about it! of course, you have to give your own opinion; but always if this one has its origin in the personal dialogue with the work and never if it comes from elsewhere. Today, unluckily, in the society we live in, almost everything is moved from a commercial viewpoint; and only, or at least what interests the most, is what is mostly sold. The mercantile system has “almost” become the owner of the world of art; the circle of art for the art is smaller and smaller; and many good artists are settled in that engine that leads them and even sets the price to their work. I really get gooseflesh when I hear a gallery owner, talking about an acclaimed artist, saying that he is preparing a “series” of one hundred big format paintings; one has to ask then, without qualms, if the creation lies in the number of paintings, in the format, in the demand or in the brilliant ideas of the gallery owner.

Jorge Rando, Madrid, March 2003