Xippas gallery in Punta del Este is happy to present Endless Dawn, an exhibition by Juan Manuel Rodríguez featuring a new series of watercolors created over the past three years. The works stem from his Master’s in Painting, completed at the University of the Basque Country.
Returning to academia prompted a profound self-questioning that reshaped his practice and marked a clear break from the aesthetic that had long defined him.
Previously, Rodríguez’s work was rooted in hyperrealism, often depicting intimate scenes—beds and crumpled sheets as topographies of memory and affection—based on photographs capturing emotionally significant moments.
By contrast, these recent paintings do not originate from direct photographic reference. Instead, they emerge from experimentation with watercolor: the play between pigment and water becomes the driving force. On large, soaked sheets of paper, the artist lays down rapid brushstrokes, then manipulates the resulting forms to shape evolving images.
This process evokes Surrealist strategies, building imagery from suggestive, amorphous stains. The initial inspiration—abstracted views of a swimming pool and an aerial river landscape—already pointed toward water.
Water becomes both theme and material throughout the series. The works reflect Rodríguez’s fascination with fluidity: images formed by the physical interaction of color and liquid, conveying attraction, seduction, even obsession. This procedural emphasis is reinforced by the titles—Friday, June 16, 17:30–19:45 hrs. (2023), Thursday, June 22, 16:30–18:15 hrs. (2023)—which note the precise duration of each painting session. Their horizontal, landscape-like format echoes the tradition of landscape painting.
The resulting works conjure ambiguous aqueous horizons—swampy, mist-laden, humid. They evoke an archaic, summery daydream where the origins of life in water intertwine with bright memories of summer days.
