The pair of abstracted figures in the piece are joyous and raucous. They invite you into their party, happy that you have finally arrived. The figures are female and male, stand embracing each other all while throwing their arms up into the air. You get the feeling they are having a great time. It's acryligraph on paper, pink glow surrounding them, perhaps the original color of the handmade paper the work was executed on, but its also the spotlight singling them out on the dance floor.
Byron Galvez was a Mexican artist who was primarily known for his painting but also created sculpture, including monumental works. He was born in rural Hidalgo state, to a father who played jazz music and read literature, a rarity in 1930s rural Mexico.
Gálvez’s work included painting, sculpture, etching, lithography, and drawing. For Galvez, art was spiritual and disconnected with physical logic, when only aesthetics mattered. Female figures are common, and often are sensual. He work has been influenced by the Cubism of Picasso and Georges Braque, by African and Oceanic folk art and by pre-Columbian sculpture. He preferred large scale works often bigger than seven by seven feet. He painted while listening to classical, jazz and occasionally, rock music.
The work is floating on top of white linen matting and framed by a substantial black wooden frame. The print is an acryligraph, the paper appears to be hand made, the pulpy texture yields different patterns upon closer inspection. For example in some places it resembles a composition note book, in others it makes stripes and spirals. The work is layered with subtleties both in technique and its meaning.
