Throughout his years of experimentation, Cesc Abad (Barcelona, 1973) has developed a special interest in man and his relationship and effect on nature. After years of studying the great masters of painting, he found his technical tool in the post-impressionist brushstroke and history in symbolism.

This mixture leads to both figurative and conceptual work, as a result of an introspective task from the point of view of nature, but suggesting many questions to the viewer.

His artworks allow people to observe the landscape in a different way, as if one could approach a piece of forest, simply by sliding the finger on the screen, to discover sometimes a real animal world, sometimes a dreamlike world and sometimes a dystopian one.

Cesc Abad’s main work is done in large formats using oil and acrylic paint and also, as a counterpoint to painting, ceramics also have a very special place.

Cesc Abad’s ceramics, far from being an archaeological discovery, are an iconographic discovery with multiple figures and readings, accompanied by a very special coloring that give his works an infinity of visions and interpretations.

As it happens in the Greek ceramics, the narratives that we can observe in the works of Abad, try to explain certain actions that can be as everyday as desire, lust, mystery or passion, all of them concepts that are intrinsically linked to human nature.

The reading or interpretation in his ceramics can be done from bottom to top, from right to left or in the opposite direction, which allows the viewer to enjoy different stories or moments that enrich the human condition. In a way, they are somewhat reminiscent of the Sumerian bas-reliefs, whose stories were configured in strips or registers around the vessel and whose initial content was fundamentally religious and votive. They also featured seated figures or figures in procession as well as animals, which give the pieces a narrative register.

Yellows, greens, blues and reds give these ceramics a color and brightness somewhere between kitsch, pop and natural, which is life itself.

Mónica Marañón, December 2020