Before the Game.
(Sorry, but that pun was unavoidable.) Claudio Bravo was a Chilean hyperrealist painter who died last year. I don’t recall having come across him before but it’s a hazard of a photographic style that your work may superficially be taken for the output of other artists. Looked at more closely his painting went through distinct phases with an increasing interest in the study of wrapped-paper packages. These trompe l’oeil paintings allow the meticulous detail to remain while giving an impression at a distance of colour field abstraction. I’m rather taken with the later pictures but then I’ve always been partial to hyperreal techniques.
Another recurrent theme is the male body in various states of dress or undress, and rendered with as much presence as the paintings and drawings of British artist Michael Leonard. One of the drawings below could almost be one of Leonard’s. Bravo painted woman as well so we can’t read too much into this, but he did live in Morocco for many years, and one of his paintings from the 1970s depicts a swimming pool at Fire Island. Make of that what you will. (Thanks to Paul for the tip!)
Homage to St Theresa.
Noureddine.
Blue and Beige Package.
Nude (Portrait of Mr Couchez).
Ivory Package.
Nude.
Triptico Terracota.
Red Carpet.
Triptico Beige y Gris.
Self-portrait.
Eternum – Felipe II.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The gay artists archive
Previously on { feuilleton }
• The art of Michael Leonard