The Calderon Guardia Museum Celebrates the Life of Fernando Carballo in a New Exhibit.

Fernando Carballo Jiménez began his life watching portrait artists paint their masterpieces. Interested and intrigued by each interpretation, the budding artist studied the way that colors and paints interact, how two-dimensional lines formed three-dimensional characters, and how simple strokes brought each subject to life. Carballo Jiménez soon after picked up his own paint brush, and today, he has more than forty years of artistic experience under his belt.

Those years, represented by his evolving style and artwork, are on display at the Calderón Guardia Museum. Luis Núñez, Museum curator and director, explained that the exhibition brings together 52 of Carballo’s most important works. The paintings arrived from around the country, where they were displayed in various private collections and government institutions. “The exposition was created as a tour through the different facets of his artistic journey,” said Núñez.

Indeed, Carballo’s evolution as an artist is evident in the exposition’s works. His style, which focuses heavily on unique interpretations of portraits and human subjects, shows talent from the very beginning. Even so, Carballo’s first works are less clearly defined, a representation of the young artist’s struggle to find his style and artistic voice. His more recent pieces appear to be much more relaxed, evidencing his confidence with the subject matter and artistic maturity.

Fallen angels, haunting stares, and womanly curves are all main subjects of his paintings. His color choices range from simple black and white to atypical color palettes, such as granting skin a pale blue hue. Central to almost all of his artwork is a focus on facial expressions, which may show fear, sadness, satisfaction, or any other example from the range of human emotions. “All the thoughts in one’s head come out when he paints,” Carballo, now 67, explained.

Indeed, Carballo’s artistic focus on expression and emotion is a direct reflection of his inner thoughts: as a child, his indomitable spirit frustrated his teachers and superiors. Eventually expelled from school, Carballo would have been lost if not for an art professor who had seen his talent and found him a job at a graphic design firm. Later, Carballo moved on to the art department at an advertising agency, a position that truly lit the artistic fire within his soul. His work friends: now-famous artists Gonzalo Morales, Hugo Díaz, and Moisés Barrios.

To cultivate his craft, Carballo spent time in Mexico at the end of the 80s. There, he learned to contemplate the works in his head, doing constant, silent, meticulous research on each one. His work became a vice, and one that he loved, and he vowed to only paint what he loved. “I have never painted an abstract canvas or a dead nature scene,” he confirmed, choosing instead to focus all of his artistic energies on human beings.

The Calderón Guardia Museum exhibition is free to all who Visit Costa Rica, and will run from September 10 through October 3. His book, Fernando Carballo, 40 años de labor artística (Fernando Carballo, 40 Years of Artistic Labor) will be on sale, in addition to several prints of his favorite and most important works.

Photo courtesy of La Nacion.

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Filed under: Living on September 10th, 2008