The only pressure Jose Delgado-Guevara applies to his art is the paintbrush to the canvas. He doesn't expect the audience to clairvoyantly understand some profound deeper meaning when they look over his abstract paintings. He actually hopes for the opposite effect.
"The painting is the thing, not a painting about the thing," said the Prince George multi-talented artist.
Tonight, he unveils a set of never before seen works at an exhibition entitled Miscellany. They are new and, unlike his past exhibitions, these are all abstract in nature.
They were inspired by Delgado-Guevara's explorations with a limited palette of dark colours he took a fancy to, and by the regular walks he routinely takes from his home to his workspaces.
He is the concertmaster of the Prince George Symphony Orchestra and he is also a fine artist with a painting studio. Both are located at the Studio 2880 complex and that is where his new Miscellany collection is on display in the feature gallery.
Just because he was inspired by images seen in nature, or mental flashes he got from the realistic literal world, does not mean he was trying to symbolize that in his work, he cautioned.
"What I want is to represent is the idea of a painting just being what it is. It is impossible not to have some kind of psychological reaction as a viewer, but if you see some impression in this work that is on you. I was not trying to put it there in your mind."
He has already had some early viewers talk to him about the fox or the dying human figure they've gleaned from some of the slatherings of colour, but he insisted there was no more intentional realism in this exhibition than there is in the clouds that sometimes seem to resemble mundane objects. Still, he takes no offense to anyone's personal interpretations.
"I have to accept that the audience, no matter how I beg them, will inevitably see something," Delgado-Guevara said.
"This show is about the tension between a complete abstraction and what the viewer's eyes imagine they might see. I cannot control any of that, they could not control where my brush went. It's not a fight between us, but it is two different worlds coming together."
In an indirect way, the exhibition is connected to new PGSO conductor/artistic director Michael Hall. The orchestra had been on a year-long search for that position, and when Delgado-Guevara got a few months' notice of Hall's hiring, he went into maximum painting mode.
"I knew, with a new conductor I would not have much time for painting anything," he said. "I had to practice a lot. You want the conductor to have a good impression of you as the concertmaster and it is a new relationship. I had to focus on that because you're two leaders meshing your work."
With Hall's first season of PGSO duties now behind him, some of that time has eked back into Delgado-Guevara's life.
The concertmaster currently lives a routine of music work during the day, then a regimen of two drawings and one painting each evening. He does this everyday except for his usual Sunday respite.
The results of his discipline can be seen at the Studio 2880 Feature Gallery starting tonight with an opening reception between 5-7 p.m. (located at 2880 15th Ave.)
"We are such huge fans of Jose's work, he is a phenomenal talent," said the gallery's curator Lisa Redpath. "We try to provide a wide variety of styles for the public, and we think people will agree that Jose's paintings are extraordinary."
An added feature of this opening reception is the Prince George Community Foundation's table at which they will sell their fundraising book People Of Prince George - The Foundation Of Our Community by Kathy Nadalin.
"From now on, whenever we hold an opening reception, that opportunity will be there for the Community Foundation," said Redpath. "They have been such supporters of ours, such supporters of the arts, over the years. It is a good fit for us to include them in our events as a way to say thanks and a way to generate money for their many great causes that always come right back to the community in so many ways."
The paintings of Delgado-Guevara will also be for sale throughout the exhibition, which runs until June 30.
