Leonardo Mesquita A Glimpse of Uruguay - Summer 2008 Issue of Horses in Art Magazine

Leonardo Mesquita - A Glimpse of Uruguay

Diálogos del Espejo (Dialogs with the Reflection) – Oil, 17 x 22, by Leonardo Mesquita.
The paintings of Leonardo Mesquita have a quality similar to that of an expert horseman: he makes it look easy. His work demonstrates at least two different approaches to his focus on the horse. One is the vignette – a solitary horse in a closely cropped setting with a minimal background. These small, jewel-like paintings contain, however, a vibrant sense of energy and motion.

Mesquita’s second approach is to depict the horse in a more complete landscape. The horse, still or in motion, is surrounded by a subtly naturalistic setting of plain, a grove of trees or a tranquil lake.

His painting technique convincingly renders his unique rural themes. His brushwork varies from rich, visible brushstrokes and texture to thinner surfaces, contrasting patches of greenery to more desolate plateaus.

Mesquita seems to alternate between a romantic, immediate take on the sheer life force a horse seems to summon around itself, as in the smaller paintings mentioned above, and his more expansive landscapes. These are a larger picture of the expansive world in which his horses reside.

Together these seem a realist’s view of the place of the horse in the lives of those who live and work with them. One might conjecture that all artists in the presence of nature dream of capturing its light, motion and color. An impossible task of course, but Mesquita describes his way of trying to get at what mere paint and canvas struggle to achieve.

En las hierbas (In the Grass) — Oil, 20 x 40, by Leonardo Mesquita.

“I would like to go into an abstract way of thinking. I feel more relaxed and enjoy working in total silence, almost like a meditation. From this point I feel connected with nature in all her forms and especially with the horse and its surroundings. I try to create an image of what I couldn’t describe with words.”

What we describe in words or paint, what we try to approximate, is the telling of the story to others. Our yearning for this, to tell the story, can sometimes take the form of painting. We feel the stillness of water, the motion of a vibrant living thing, the flatness of a solitary road in the middle of nowhere, a stand of trees so familiar alongside a country road. These experiences sometimes seem to make up the soul of our being – we saw and felt the world we live in. For many of us this natural world, so impassive, nonetheless contains great love, and we are grateful to those like Leonardo Mesquita who interpret it for us.

Leonardo Mesquita has One-Man Show

Mark DeSautel, owner of Art Attack Gallery at Lake Tahoe, is proud to announce a summer exhibition of original oil paintings by Uruguayan artist, Leonardo Mesquita. Mr. Mesquita’s works will be displayed in the gallery located at 868 Tahoe Blvd. #13, Incline Village, Nevada, from July 15th through August 20th. The works of Leonardo Mesquita reflect a passion for horses in his native country of Uruguay. He is represented in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Montevideo, Uruguay; and Punta Del Este, Uruguay. Art Attack Gallery has represented the artist in the United States since 2005. “His works have an emotional appeal on people that transcend the obvious in subject matter,” DeSautel states, “ Showcasing a body of work by this accomplished artist depicting the mystery of the horse and the beauty of Uruguay is very exciting to us,” DeSautel continues. “It is no coincidence that in addition to winning awards and having a loyal following of collectors in South America and Europe that Mr. Mesquita’s works have resonated to collectors in the U.S.,” DeSautel states. Visit Art Attack Gallery at www.tahoeartgallery.com for more information.

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