For Rogelio Manzo, the practice of portraiture is more than a way to capture a likeness. His darkly compelling images of the human figure reflect a blend of cultural influences -as well as an underlying concern with the fragility of life-. In his work, Manzo seeks to reveal the character of his subjects as they are "forced" to be themselves. He goes beneath the body's protective layer of skin, which registers all personal events that scar the human being to reveal their fragility and inevitable mortality. "Through these works, I am exploring the different stages of our lives as human beings," Manzo explains.
“ For me, the skin is not only our protective varnish against harmful exterior forces or the medium with which to be touched and caressed, but it is also where we register all of our personal events that somehow had touched us enough to scars us.”
Manzo studied architecture while simultaneously making an informal study of painting. But he found architecture "too strict." So in the following years, he brought his architectural and drafting skills to play -working in that field to earn a living- until, eventually, he made the welcome discovery that a full-time commitment to his passion for art was, in fact, a viable career choice. Although Manzo has been developing his technique and exploring portraiture for about fifteen years now, he "will never stop exploring portraiture", as he ensures us, he has been working on other subjects and areas that interest him, "I'm a pragmatic artist, I'm always curious of finding new ways in trying to make sense of my reality" he states.
He has experimented with all these materials, eventually hitting on a combination that allows a lightinfused and reflective surface to mitigate the dark imagery. In most of these works, Manzo places the figures in the foreground with rarely a sense of an environment. Thus, the viewer is forced to focus on the Cubistic fragmented visages and figures that are painted with an expressionistic fervor. The surfaces of these oil paintings range from thick impasto to thin washes, with areas of the background is left bare. This treatment adds to the sensation of his subjects being flayed to reveal their innermost feelings; the artist has great freedom to "let the painting develop by itself," he explains. Because of the slow drying of the oil medium, Manzo works on as many as five paintings at the same time.
Currently, the artist is exploring sculpture installations and artobject works, with specialized help on mechatronics and biology engineering; he is using bio-technical instruments and equipment to give life to what could be considered intelligent art installations: micro cameras, sensors, fiber optic lighting, electro-valves, precision air and hydraulics pumps, -and computer programs that act as the brains-, work in unison to conjugate an organic yet artificial conceptual art piece. In these developing works, Manzo is exploring the mystery of organic life and our relationship with it. He uses precision programmable pumps that pulsate out streams of liquids like oils and purified water through flexible tubes visually imitating communication between organs and elements, air pumps to imitate pulsations, recorded sound effects, etc. Then he interprets these apparatuses as complex artificial yet organic lifeforms that remind us of our own fragile organic bodies and of our dependence on organic life.
