Statement

Edgar Salguero's art is reminiscent of Diderot´s aesthetics, who identifies pattern, repetition, symmetry and order as the sources of beauty. Hutchenson comes to a similar conclusion, finding beauty in what is predictable in variety and variety in predictability.

Salguero’s art is, in its totality, a full functional piece. But each small portion in every painting tells a story of its own. Lines and dots carefully placed and repeated in full portions of his paintings remind us of that variety and predictability are at a continuous game with one another. The way he uses color does not seem to be constrained by traditional guidelines. It feels free. The contrasts, then, cause in the spectator the illusion of movement and interaction with the figures.

Salguero is humble in his explanations of inspiration, he refuses to participate in the complication of something that comes naturally to him. To those who know him, however, the inspirations are obvious, his family, literature and music to name a few. Scattered through his work one can find old poems and jokes from within his closest circles; three figures that, without being obvious, are still reminiscent of his three children; hands that hold the years of birth of himself and other members of his family. On the occasions when he does speak of his work and inspiration, Salguero likes to mention his mediated contact with ancient cave paintings and primarily, how he particularly takes inspiration from those artists who are obsessively careful with the quality of their work.

In Salguero’s intricate work, mistakes are always a possibility but are mindfully avoided. And when they unavoidably occur, they are turned into elements that surprise but don’t interrupt the overall flow of the patterns and figures he proposes: a small apple in a field of what seem to shooting stars, a heart that meddles in the point-based pattern of the tie of a man.

Humphry Osmond defined psychedelic as ‘mind manifesting’. Salguero’s work is a manifestation of his inner psyche and therefore, somewhat psychedelic. His appreciation of order and games. Cleverness and color, repetition and the control of the uncontrollable.

Adrian Salguero