PATERNHIJIDAD: PATERNITY OR THE MUTUAL INFLUENCE BETWEEN DANIEL AND ANDY CASTILLO

Andy Castillo Exhibition @ City Hall
Reception Tuesday August 14, 6-8pm
Rotunda Gallery, City Hall, 280 Grove Street

Info: Greg Brickey 201-547-4333
www.andycastillo.com


PATERNHIJIDAD: PATERNITY OR THE MUTUAL INFLUENCE BETWEEN DANIEL AND ANDY CASTILLO

By Eladio de los Santos García

The influence that an artist exerts on another is unpredictable, but recognizable. Much is known about the influence exerted by a father over his child. What is less known is the influence from a child over his father’s painting, even if it has been a repeated phenomenon in the history of art. Such is the case of Daniel and Andy Castillo, son and father. The influence of Daniel over the work of Andy has been indelible; as much as the contours, the line fluidity, as the washes and brush strokes.

We know, as said by Rolando Barthes, that style has a biological origin. Therefore, between Daniel and his Father Andy there must be a stylistic closeness because of their biological proximity, but mostly because of the affectionate relationship between Father and Son. The love between them is so strong that their imaginary expression ineffably unites them in the imaginary quest in which both of them are the same. The result of this quest is an unparalleled work.

Remembering Picasso, who once said, “All children are born as artists. The problem is on how to continue to be artists while growing up”, We believe that Andy noticed that his son was a natural born artist that was born in a convenient place to develop his artistic ability. That is why, having exhausted so many academic studies in fine arts, the father finds in his son the best source to feed upon and enrich his work. This way Andy might obtain in his youth what took Picasso all of his life, or 80 years.

“Learning how to paint as the Renaissance painters took me a few years; painting like a child took me a life time”.

The similarity of Andy’s palette with his son has configured an imaginary world between them, where portraits of trees, fish, animals etc abound. The child Daniel can jump from a palette of grey tones to a palette of vivid tones. Green and orange tones express sadness and joy.

They sit side by side to determine what they see or figure in a group of lines and traces. The simplest sketch directs them through a path in which the realization of art reaches the satisfaction of the soul, in a type of game in which love becomes art. In this way they complete, beside Silvio Rodriguez, that chorus that says: “Only love turns clay into miracles. Only love engenders marvel”.