Arbol y Pelicao (Tree and Pelican)

2009 - Painting (Painting)

16H x 13.5W inches

Federico Herrero

Federico Herrero’s energetic paintings reflect his experiences on the streets of his native San José, Costa Rica, and in the surrounding tropical landscape. Rooted in Central American folklore, politics, and culture, his works often move beyond the canvas onto the wall or into the streets. In Á rbol y Pelicao (Tree and Pelican, 2009), a tree with cartoonlike creatures drawn in pen beside it emerges from a field of bright swaths of color. This imagined landscape fuses abstract painting and graffiti art. Despite the roar of colors, the scene is peaceful—a vision of urbanity and nature coexisting in harmony.

Federico Herrero makes colorful paintings, often on walls and as murals. Whether depicting recognizable objects or more generally abstract, his paintings have a consistent quality of rounded shapes, wobbling fields of color, and all-over markings. Herrero’s works are full of energy and life, hovering somewhere between painted-over graffiti and painterly abstraction. Additionally, bright and varied colors combine with shapes resembling eyes to give some of his pieces a more cartoon-like sensibility.

Colors:

• nature.n.03
• urban.a.02
• central_america.n.01
• graffito.n.01
• coexist.v.01
• abstraction.n.04
• abstract
• abstract landscape
• abstract painting
• architecture's effects
• costa rican