Infinite perspectives

AMMAN — A more appropriate title could not have been given to Clara Amado’s exhibition at Instituto Cervantes. For, the word “Horizons” perfectly describes the images on display and they, in turn, open for the viewer infinite perspectives, both perceptible and imaginary.

Amado’s are horizons that she wishes to see “sunny and happy” for Jordan, the country whose nature, she confesses, inspires her, touches her deeply.

A rough translation of the artist’s creed on the invitation card says that “horizon exists in your look, your origin, is present, past and tomorrow; horizon is only a word, window, door, colour, brushstroke and spot.... This work that I humbly present to you is a tribute to the horizon of the future, of utopia inspired by clear, transparent horizons whose perspective translates, mostly, into peace, not a peace dreamt of only, but one real that, in order to be attained, forces us to climb steep surfaces full of obstacles...”.

By such philosophical reasoning, horizons can then be both unbounded open spaces or imagination and walls that impede a far-reaching view or the attainment of goals.

In Amado’s works, however, there are no barriers blocking passage.

Landscape after landscape opens up like magic doors, letting the viewer in, making the eye wander and challenging imagination.

The satisfaction one feels upon recognising an image — the iconic Siq of Petra, Wadi Rum’s rock formations or the immense stretches of warm sand — is almost childish.

Amado’s images induce serenity and happiness, longing for times long gone when life was simpler, time was measured by the rising and setting sun, and vast spaces were navigated with the help of guiding stars and experienced animals.

The landscapes seem frozen in an age of bucolic life when man’s life was run by nature’s cycles. They transport the viewer into a mesmerising world of purity and colour.

Nature is caught at different times of the day, close up or from a distant, or high, perspective.

Scenery projects itself sharply against the background, earth meets sky to form striking horizons.

Mountains are clearly outlined against the intense red skies of a fiery sunset, or the turquoise or anil blue of a darkening sky where whirling clouds chase each other and the rays of a dying sun get reflected by the myriad grains of sand, giving off an infinite palette of colours.

Amado uses natural pigment and acrylic to create a great variety of colours, and collage to produce the images.

She paints on paper, tears it down, applies it to the wood base and paints again over it, creating layers and texture often barely visible, subtle and highly artistic.

Some paintings in light peach-pink hues depict starker landscape that, for all its minimalism, contains a wealth of details awaiting discovery.

In these make-happy images, sky and earth are the same colour — universe at its most harmonious — and the horizon is created by the outlines of the relief in an amazing range of shades: orange, black, white, maroon, pale ochre, dark peach.

A few miniature landscapes inviting discovery in their white obtruding frames are intriguingly beautiful. 

Quite abstract and almost monochromatic, they contain fascinating images: bodies of water, mountains, amorphous shapes and plant life, haphazard brushstrokes and deliberate lines that are as enigmatic as their bigger counterparts, and equally attractive.

Amado, a Barcelonan by birth and a painter by education, held 26 individual exhibitions in Spain, Italy, Mexico, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, and took part in over 28 international collective exhibitions.

Her latest works inspired by Jordan’s landscape are on display until April 30.