Figurative or not, but more figurative than not, the work of Bartus Bartolomes lies in the conjonction of diverse procedures which make it singular as well as unique.

On one hand, he utilizes colour plans which may or not coincide with a precise shape, which have the fluidity of ink wash or watercolors. Thereafter, his drawings are carried out using several techniques ranging from pencil to pen, from pen to paintbrush. Finally, words or word fragments may appear on the surface of the paper. More often than not, it will be the title. But not necessarily.

His designs are characterized by a refusal to obey any pre-established law. Undoubtedly, the artist possesses his own writing, nevertheless expressed under quite different aspects. Let us dwell on those which represent imaginary portraits, such as Lula: one gets the impression that the contour lines of the face, the eyes, the lips, the contour line of the head are the fruit of an automatic graphics which offered him elements inducing him to imagine this particular head. There is no doubt in him of some inherited automatic writing of the French surrealists of the twenties. However, whatever was offered to him by an objective accident he took control of, but only to a certain extent. On the whole, he strives to maintain a free and disjointed aspect. Above all, he does not want to return to a traditional mode. His portrait must remain a spontaneous creation and stay the closest possible to what his imagination dictated to his hand.

However, there should be no room for making a mistake: his compositions are neither childish nor avatars of Art brut so strongly advocated by Jean Dubuffet. No, they always end up constituting some sense while representing moments of his affection and sensitivity which are receivable by the spectator. In sum, he wants to hold us in an ambiguous, unstable situation, between a dream and reality – the dream weighing over reality. He can even combine a group of totally distinct figures as in Atomic Marine Test, where a woman stands behind a palm tree and where the bald, bearded head of a man soars out of the water as he faces a monster with a carapace. He reveals himself more “primitive” (even reaching close to caricatured) in another work, Guernica in New York, where he divides a totemic figure in blacks, from afar reminiscent of urban graffiti. In all instances, humor is definitely there. This is demonstrated in North Corean Birth Rate at Moromamoro: the title is funny and enigmatic, the setting up of strange figures and the subject delusional. The profile of the face invading the space and the little mermaid evolving underneath create a relation both bizarre and burlesque.

In les Cornes du Rhinoceros (published by Campanotto Editore in 2011) his papers are accompanied by texts which are openly esoteric: they are fragments of a story of a totally surrealistic nature; indeed, they tend to exaggerate the bizarre side of his plastic continent.

This surprising and savory continent does not limit itself to this kind of designing. Bartus Bartolomes also practices the art of collage. What distinguishes him, therefore, is the profusion, and once again, the deliberate mixing of techniques where, among other things, collage may be present. These collages have in common a sensation of swarming which distracts the eye and confounds the reasoning. However, when observed attentively, they are built in quite a rigorous fashion. But he likes to paint perspectives where a multitude of elements are assembled to produce the “painting”. It is both troubling, sometimes a little disquieting, but also playful.

In addition, he likes to utilize printed or designed words to constitute great compositions reminding us of newspaper pages or what would be compositions of virtual poetry bearing a pictorial background.

The originality of his approach resides in the interior logics which animate this artist. Dynamics leading him to expand his geographical territory with joyful freedom, yet using all kinds of motivations which, however, never jeopardize the wholeness of his approach. These pieces are useful for generating a phantasmagoric world, always surprising, always saturated with humor and spirit.

Bartus Bartolomes is a creator who has deliberately placed himself at the margin of what is being produced on the surface of the contemporary art world. This is what makes his works original and attaching. The writings he places regarding his works in the Cornes du rhinoceros open new horizons to them and force us to read them differently.

Last, it cannot be forgotten that he equally designs abstract pieces of work where he utilizes wood, the ink derived from a ferrous patina or resin, such as he did with Les Autres: these are rounded shapes which remind us, from a distance, of Jean Arp’s reliefs paintings. But he elaborated them in such a manner that these works are part of a temptation to perceive the esthetical gesture from a very curious perspective, revealing an unprecedented side of his talent which should further flourish in the meanders of his perpetually moving spirit.

By Gérard-Georges Lemaire
(Author of the Catalogue Raissone of the Master Jesus Rafael Soto from 1960/ 1980).
gerardgeorgeslemaire@orange.fr
Paris, April 1st, 2012.