Review: Joaquín Pardo

There are few things comparable to the caress of the waves on a walk along the shore. The coolness of the water brushing your feet lifts your spirits almost instantly, undoing knots of anguish and opening horizons of relief. After a few minutes you can't even remember what that momentous thing was that had been boring holes, like woodworm, into your cheerful routine. That's what the artwork of Joaquín Pardo is like, the first kiss of an unforgettable summer, the crackling foam of a Mediterranean wave.

In search of lost time

Lately we've grown used to distances, disguises and worries. It seems we've even developed a taste for living in a ridiculous state of permanent tension, greedily devouring smoke dressed up as cataclysm. But I suppose slicing up soft, tender spirits is essential if the agendas are going to be met.

The problem is that along the way we've been losing kisses, smiles and dreams. That's why it's so important to get back the summer of our lives. And to warm up, there's nothing better than rocking on the sea's waves through the artwork of Joaquín Pardo which, like wooden boats painted in bright colours, sails through the nostalgia of paradises found. Because paradise isn't lost, don't let anyone fool you, it's us who are blind.

Just look at Patacona and tell me what you see, not only on the surface of the painting but beyond it, inside yourself. Endless waves washing over golden sand and sky-blue atmospheres in which you can almost taste the breeze, full of salt and promise. Because paintings like this have the gift of capturing movement on a static surface: the waves never stop, they always break in order to come back, to breathe life into inert spirits.

In the small Playa lejana, the artist takes us to the Malvarrosa, south of the Patacona, another tribute to Valencia, the thread running through almost all of Joaquín Pardo's output. With a very low horizon, this artwork is pure serenity, like the spark of a moment of simple contemplation. In Velero en la Playa , meanwhile, we finally get into the water to bathe in the always tempting waters of the Mediterranean. Three relaxed figures sink into the sky-blue paradise, marking the presence of a solitary white sailing boat.

The human figure, uncommon in Pardo's artwork, dominates the composition of Carmen en la playa. Games with the sand that draw innocent dreams, like the ones we draw in our own spirits through the painter's humble, honest artwork.

Dunes and wetlands, reflections and geometries

Joaquín Pardo says that his main wish as an artist is for the viewer to recognise Valencia and its Mediterranean brightness in his paintings. Mission more than accomplished, as we see in artworks like Dunas IV or Humedal de El Saler. Because even if we move a few metres away from the coast, the Mediterranean light that grooms a smiling, lovable landscape is unmistakable.

This world of warm reflections also turns up in paintings like Atardecer en los arrozales, Casas de Pinedo or in his glowing series Surcos Brillantes, a tribute to the wetlands of the Albufera: those rice fields that feed the legendary Valencian cuisine, in artworks that let Pardo put his technical skills to the test, everything he learned in the drawing and painting schools he is so proud to have attended.

But since not everything in Valencia is gold and blue, sand and sky, Pardo takes his brushes into the city centre to experiment with the urban landscape in paintings like Puerto de Valencia, Jardín del Turia or Tarde lluviosa en la calle Quart. This last one stands out because it's one of the painter's few night-time, fully urban paintings: a rainy but serene February night in the city.

With an artwork that is simple, nostalgic and comforting, Joaquín Pardo has managed to recover that time lost among numbers and accounts and give himself over at last to his passion for painting, capturing the Mediterranean light of the summer to come, the one waiting for us to repair our exhausted spirits.

We invite you to visit Joaquín Pardo's gallery on Artelista.