Darian Rodriguez Mederos used to fear painting human faces, but it is the very art he specialises in now.
Mederos was born in Cuba. He attended his first two years of art school at Leopoldo Romañach, his last two years being spent at San Alejandro in Havana.
The artist paints hauntingly beautiful human faces – expressionless, unreadable – the light in the eyes of his subject inspiring him to play with the evocation in the eyes of his art.
What do these eyes say? Darian cannot pinpoint. But they do say something, in fact, they’re the most powerful aspect of these faces. “They’re open to interpretation”, he smiles.
Obscure…
The new project that Mederos has undertaken requires the spectator to be at a distance from the object. Come too close, and you lose insight.
‘Obscure’ carries faces who are there, but not quite. Calling himself a realist and working with hyper-realism, the creator plays with lights and perspectives in his new series. Bubble wraps are painted over human faces, allowing the subjects to manifest themselves in forms not visible in the mirror. These bubbles hide the vulnerability of the models, some say, but is it true?
By protecting his subjects, is Mederos rendering them defenceless?
Darian’s obscure hyper-realism brings out and offers a perspective not often reached while looking at bare faces. The photorealistic paintings are given an abstraction and challenge the observer to reach the core of human emotion. If you take a step forward, the face dissolves in strokes and lines; take a few steps back and you look at the touching reality of our world – a face, the face – common to us all in spite of – because of – social and cultural constructs.
A smile is a smile is the smile.
You may find Darian in Nashville, but mostly in Miami, lost in his subjects while making sure the shape of the face stays consistent, even if the features distort.
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