Review: Juan Aguirre Vila-Coro

Let's look at two artworks: Sol de medianoche and Café al Sol de Medianoche. In the first, we see two half-empty (or half-full) glasses, a hat, a copy of El País and… a trumpet. In the second there's only one glass, and the objects on the table have shifted position. But there's something else: a girl in a red dress is sitting at the next table. What happened between one moment and the other? Which one comes first? What relationship is there, if there is any at all, between the two characters, the trumpet player and the girl?

This narrative restlessness is what some of the artworks of Juan Aguirre Vila-Coro stir up, an architect, painter and teacher «around 60 years old» based in La Granja (Segovia). Looking at these two artworks, a writer would feel the urge to put the story down on paper, and a filmmaker could use it as inspiration to shape a scene. We can almost hear the hum of the conversations, the music in the background… Aguirre Vila-Coro's digital art is alive, it breathes, it happens.

Tomorrow's art, today

Throughout history we've sat through far too many pointless arguments about what counts as art, too many salons of the rejected, too much degenerate art. And today, many of those degenerates fascinate millions of people in the world's museums. But we don't learn history's lesson. Learning from the past has never been a priority for human beings. Anticipating the future is far more seductive.

Any artwork conceived and carried out with artistic intention should be considered art. That said, the fact that something is an artwork doesn't automatically mean it's any good. Aesthetic judgement falls into the category of the subjective. But art doesn't: either it is, or it isn't.

Digital art still has some way to go before it's recognised by the whole artistic community first, and by the general public afterwards (or is it the other way round?). The fact that the digital artist doesn't hold a brush in his hand still arouses suspicion and mistrust. «That isn't art», some say. Conservatism has always been part of how artwork is received. Much as it pains us, our minds are still in the 18th century, under the dictatorship of the Fine Arts.

In any case, Juan Aguirre Vila-Coro doesn't seem to care much about all this. His aim is to «live far from the madding crowd», which comes as no surprise at all, given how deafening the noise is these days, and we don't just mean noise as an annoying sound…

Aguirre Vila-Coro has found the right medium to give shape to his creations and doesn't seem too worried about whether the tool he's chosen (computer software that generates 3D graphics which can then be transferred to a physical support such as the traditional canvas on a stretcher) is considered ‘artistic enough' by the public.

Still lifes, bicycles and a relaxing cup of coffee

In Sinestesia, the artist based in La Granja gives us an artwork of a classic stamp, but made with contemporary technology. It's a very Mondrian still life, in which the artist plays with the primary colours. The presence of glass is a constant in his 3D models. Let's not forget he teaches at the Escuela Superior del Vidrio in La Granja.

Among his Pop-flavoured still lifes, the depictions of the artist's own table also stand out, collages like Mesa Mágica where there's always a newspaper, a drink, the packet of Winstons and a few coloured pencils and markers. In Cervezas even an iPhone sneaks in… Aguirre Vila-Coro enjoys generating forms in which transparencies and glints stimulate the viewer's perception.

Also striking is his series of artworks starring the bicycle, always classic racing bikes as in Montonera, Teoría del Caos or Vértigo en Copenhague. Aguirre Vila-Coro investigates the forms created by the wheels, chains and chainrings of bicycles piled one on top of another.

And yes, Aguirre Vila-Coro also brings a sense of humour to some of his artworks, like the one he calls Clembuterol starring two bicycles, two helmets and a bidon. Or Relaxing Cup of Coffee , a nod to the famous line from a former mayor of Madrid.

Although Juan Aguirre Vila-Coro would rather «be transparent», go by unseen, his artwork blazes with personality thanks to the oddness of some of the motifs he chooses and those stories that seem to beat away behind some of his apparently most static scenes. The surname doesn't matter (digital, figurative, abstract, etc.), what counts is the intention… the artistic one.