The evolution of light and stillness
A notable influence is life in Italy where light, color, and the history of past artists are accessible in a practical and energetic sense. It was here that Montes was able to see works from the great masters including French artist Claude Monet, a master of impressionist and still life art.
Montes’ own still-life paintings provide personal flair with the saturated colors and balance of detail. Wine Cup provides a pause in time to observe how light moves through materials. The layers build a path for light as it moves around corners, across the tabletop, and slides around the curves of delicate wine glasses. Textural details seem to fade into the colorful backdrop, enhancing the focus of light and color in specific refractions and reflections. Similarly, the traces of human life are seen with fragility, capturing story and symbolism through absence that is felt rather than told.
With delightful variation, Montes’ other works depict broader scenes but with the same characteristic romanticism and skillful manipulation of light. Instant and Place capture larger moments; a bench resting in the tendrils of shadows; a park in the stillness of the sunlight. The dreamy blending of brushstrokes again blurs the smaller details to focus on the dramatic and almost cinematic presence of stillness, a poem rippling beneath the views.
In a delightful range of subjects, Montes’ style retains that mesmerizing quality. Most works start with a photograph as the foundation but are quickly compelled by the painting process itself as each new piece finds its own compositional reality. With the expansion of technique and experience, Montes’ world opened up to new subjects or variations of core themes, the reward being witnessing the evolution of artwork over the years. In Falcao he explores human expression in the heat of football where passion, discipline, and reward meet on the field. Abstract pieces such as Andante show a tenderness and delicacy that reach through the pastel layers.
Beyond the easel, Montes sees each piece continuing its life through the subjective interpretation of viewers stating that “Emotions and messages are intrinsic to all of us as human beings, and that’s why there is freedom in the public-art dialogue.” With this intention considered, Montes’ work presents itself as a vessel for human interaction- perfect as decoration for curated interiors. Arvivid joins these worlds showcasing work in our online gallery to move artwork from imagination to accessibility where art and space meet. Whether revealed in rich hues or pronounced in the glimmer of sunlight, we celebrate the beauty, light, and evolution of creativity that Juan Montes offers.
