Nariño: Painter of clouds

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The clouds of Colombian artist Carlos Nariño.
The clouds of Colombian artist Carlos Nariño.

Born in 1957, Carlos Nariño has called Paris home for 30 years, and from his workshop in the French capital conjures up vast and solitary scenes of his native Colombia.

The sweeping landscapes of his most recent work, ‘Paisajes de la Memoria’ are inspired by the verdant high altitude plateau surrounding our capital city, where clouds and gathering storms are the protagonists.

With a flawless pictorial technique, his soft and detailed brushstrokes of cumulus clouds occupying almost every inch of the canvas, Nariño’s work is inherently romantic, recalling the twilight glow of a Turner and silvery skies of Jean-Baptiste Corot.

Even though it may be evident from the exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MamBo), that many of Nariño’s paintings are grounded in memories of a childhood in Colombia, the works outside this cultural exhibition space, are in themselves, universal depictions of nature, and where the human footprint is marginal to a vastness of skies, space and colour.

When observing Nariño’s “tableau vivant” it seems that we could be anywhere and everywhere. The afternoon hues are more of a geographic reference than the artist needing to mention a specific place by name. But we are in the Sabana de Bogotá, meandering between times of day and

the artist’s untethered melancholy. “Landscapes of Memory” is an exhibition which heralds a departure from the abstract and intangible so often exhibited in Bogotá galleries. Audiences will be moved by Nariño and a life in the clouds.

MamBo
Calle 24 No. 6-00 Until July 20th.

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