Art Analysis Essay:
Getting to Know Fernando Llort
Diana Dowe
COM 232: Visual Literacy
Prof. Juliet Davis
19 October 2004
Essay 1: Art Analysis:
Getting to Know Fernando Llork
Fernandos Llork’s art pieces have always had a sentimental attachment that trace back to my roots. Being born and raised in El Salvador, I know the impact of the landscapes he portrays in his paintings. The rivers, the mountain, the plants and trees create a strong connection between nature and the people, a connection that is rarely found today in modern civilizations. It is as if his paintings could describe exactly what El Salvador is. But not only describe the actual locations, like the small town brick houses. Not only the physical resemblance of the people’s features: their skin color, the thick black hair, and their intense eyes. Not even the strong spiritual influence on daily life, which comes from the mixture of Indian and Catholic traditions. It is more than that, he is able to describe the true spirit of El Salvador: that playful, hardworking, inviting, hospitable, colorful nature of everything you see and everyone you meet if you where to go to this country. Craft, ceramics, sculpture, and wooden works are all traditions that have been a part of our heritage, beginning with our native Pipil and Mayan descent and continuing as part of our culture to this day. Fernado Llort is able to use each of these and portray our traditions in a nonlinear fashion. I think every Salvadorian feels the same way about his art work and that is why he’s work has become a symbol of our culture. The historical and cultural contexts play a very important role in all his pieces, but at the same time, he is able to make them transcend so that they can be appreciated by someone who is not familiar with this context. His work can be found in places like the White House, art galleries in France, and the Vatican Museum (Tribute to Fernando Llort website) Llort is able to connect so deeply to the culture though the use of unique techniques and elements including color patterns, shape and form.
There are certain fundamental components that you will find in all his art work, no matter if it wood, ceramic, paintings, murals, etc. The first component is how he uses color. His paintings are saturated with bright blues, yellows, and greens. The contrast it creates is overwhelming to the eye. Your eye cannot settle in one place because the colors take you around the paintings through every detail, which at the same time intensifies and unites the whole work itself. There is a need to look for the detail, as much as a need to step back and look at the whole picture.
The second component is the use of familiar figures such as bird, women, houses, and trees. The sun is a figure that constantly appears in his paintings. Not only does it create a focal point to the overall form of the paintings, but it is symbolic as well. El Salvador is a country with no winter. The sun is life; with out it the greens of the plants, the tan of people’s skins, nature itself would not be possible. Like the sun, the images of women also reemphasize this denotation of life. Women are the bearers of life, the bearers of color. The women in his paintings are iconic symbols of the local rural women, who posses an exotic beauty depicted in his paintings. These women carry the traditional responsibility of motherhood (6 to 8 children per family) as well as other hard jobs in the fields and in the household. The strength of the Salvadorian women is almost as incredible as their beauty. The repeating figures of the natural world help reemphasize the main theme of his painting: nature as an integral part of daily life. Just like his paintings are filled with nature, so is the country. The trees, mountains and the plants tie back to nature and its overwhelming impact on the life of rural families, most of which depend on coffee, sugar and other crops as mean of living. The brick houses portrayed in the paintings refer to the small town life. Even the two largest cities, except for the capital, give the impression of being towns; their building antique and the houses with old brick roofs; all with an affinity to the past. Finally his obsession with birds, I believe, has some religious denotations. Every cathedrals and every park adjacent to them are packed with birds. Each sunset that accompanies the 6 o’clock Sunday mass, is not complete without flocks of birds that glide through the orange sun as it settles in the horizon.
The third element that is repeated through his paintings is his consistent themes, which are described though the names of his paintings. These names combine perfectly with his unusual technique, referred to by some people, as the naïve technique. “Llort has created a unique design style reminiscent of abstract sketches by Picasso, vibrant in color, beautifully arranged and almost childlike in their joyful versatility.” (Tribute to Fernando Llort website) Song of Life, Symphony of Happiness and Unity, Force of Life, Hope, From the Sky to the Earth, and Gift of the Morning are some of his most famous tittles. All of his title have an optimistic and happy connotation, maybe a little bit more upbeat than the reality of things. His technique, naïve, almost describes what his paintings do. They show how a child, a naïve child, would view the scenery around him. His childlike figures accompanied with the bright colors depict a positive outlook, almost too positive. It shows a fantasy of reality, a hope of what could be. Although the country is rich in culture and nature, the pressing problems of society, like war and poverty, almost make us forget what could be there, or better said, what has been there all along. Through his painting he tries to bring back that forgotten connection to the spiritual, natural and cultural world that hides beneath dirt. A child would see these things because he is hopeful, untouched by human evils. Llort acts as like that child that brings adults back into the realm of reality, a reality that to many adults feels more like fantasy.
Use of geometric patterns is also very important to complete his work. Strips and lines of color are characteristic patterns of the typical Salvadorian clothing, hammocks, hair adornments, mantles, etc. In his paintings, the use of these “puzzle like” geometric pieces ties one element to the next bringing them together as a unit to tell a specific story. Through the use of these geometric lines and figures he also mimics the patters of nature. Each piece is put together to imitate the different hues and patterns of the coffee harvest hills, the lines that divide up the different greens of leaves, and the mixtures of colors in birds feathers, for example.
My favorite piece is Al Beso del Sol, which because of a lack of a better translation is know as “Beneath the Sun’s Kiss”. The piece includes all of the traditional elements of Llort’s work, and it also tells an interesting story about history and religious believes. The best way for me to begin an interpretation of this piece is to start by looking of the order of things. The sun, for example, is placed at the very top of the painting, shining its orange hues down on everything else. Next we have a woman, who is so close to the sun to the point that it is kissing her. The mantle over her head seems to spreads out, almost melting into what appears to be a town. You can make out houses, the mountains, a water body and even a hammock that sits near the bottom right corner. There is also a bird with colorful feathers that wants to fly toward the sun. The religious symbolism reveals itself when this story is created. She is more than woman, she is Virgin Mary. Her closeness to the heaven is depicted by her proximity to the sun. But even though she is high above in the sky, she still touches down to connect to earth; her mantle protecting and bringing life to the people below. She becomes the connection between heaven and earth. The bird, as in many other of his pieces, symbolizes rural life and the Catholic influence on its people. The woman could also represent an Indian goddess. Her black silky hair, her big intense black eyes, and her clothing all resemble those of a native woman. Her presence in the town brings a spiritual bond to the natural world. She stands for the traditions that believe crops and harvests are completely dependant on natural events, which in turn are controlled by a higher power. The harmony of life depends on keeping a good relationship with the higher power. “Al beso del sol” means everything revolves around sun, because its presence is essential to watch and keeps everything in order. The kiss is a sign of approval for things to continue on. One of the interesting things that caught my attention was the fact that the size of the sun does not match the importance given to it. But I think this creates a sense that although he is the creator, he simply stands back and watches as his creation develops into a dance of colorful scenery.
Works Cited:
A tribute to Fernado Llort. Home Page. 10 Oct. 2004 <