by Harry Pearson
“I believe that everything in life happens for a reason, though not necessarily to a plan, Enrique Azocar says. This idea is born out by the merging elements that lead to the Chilean painter’s decision to take a different path with his work, one that has lead him away from the fine art still life canvases for which he has become well known to a more vibrant and expressionistic style in which rich and luminous blues and golds merge with images drawn from Newcastle’s cityscape.
Enrique’s move to Northumberland in northeast England was one of the key influences in the change. “The light here in the Northeast varies greatly according to the season,” he explains, “And even during the course of the day the shifting weather means the light alters constantly in its intensity, when I first arrived that created real problems for me. Changes in light affect the appearance of objects, the colour and the shade and shadows. I can memorise colour, but shade is too subtle to commit to memory, it must be observed. For my fine art work I need a constant light and that made painting here very difficult.
Now, on a new continent, however, Enrique felt able to explore a new style, moving quietly away from fine art. “I started to experiment, dropping classical composition and proportion,” he says, “But though I'm drawn to minimalism and the abstract, I didn't want to lose all elements of realism. I wanted to have figures and objects in the paintings, but not in such a way that it would dominate my imagination. When painting still lives you are at the mercy of the objects. The fruit, the fabric, the table, tells you what colour it is. I didn't want to be at the mercy of objects anymore. I wanted to be in control.”