Carrying on one of the oldest Western artistic traditions, self-taught painter Bernardo Torrens is primarily known for his achromatic nude paintings in acrylics. Working both from digital photographs and with live models, Torrens attempts to preserve the temperature of colours - a subtlety that still allows the viewer to recognise colour and its related emotions without losing the rawness of black-and-white. He paints minimally furnished interiors with stark grey backgrounds, thus placing all the attention on the figures, their poses, and the emotions they express. His women adopt sexually liberated poses, staring firmly at the viewer or captured in candid moments, as in Holly I (2006) where the model flexes her arms as if looking in a mirror outside the frame.
[Evoke Contemporary Gallery, Santa Fe - Acrylic on panel, 73 × 146.7 cm]