Desiderium

In his 1935 essay, The Conquest of the Irrational, Salvador Dali referred to his artistic process as the "paranoiac-critical method," which he described as a "spontaneous method of irrational understanding based upon the interpretative critical association of delirious phenomena." Dali believed he could access the deepest recesses of his subconscious mind and explore the irrational and fantastical aspects of reality. His paintings were windows into his inner world, where dreams, fears, and desires intersected with external stimuli. By allowing his thoughts and emotions to flow freely without logic or reason, he could embrace the irrationality of the unconscious mind to transcend the limitations of rational thought—welcoming the unexpected imagery through the psychological phenomena of pareidolia.

With an echo of familiarity, Jason Cordero's Desiderium materialises from the depths of his subconscious. Landscapes transcend geographical boundaries and turn inwards. His archetypal motifs—mountains soaring towards the heavens, trees reaching for the sky, clouds captured in a rush of deepening hues—become a dreamscape that transcends space and time. He quests for a "Golden Age," a mythical epoch imbued with the promise of fulfilment and transcendence. Yet, this utopian horizon remains beyond his reach; a fleeting attempt to capture the ineffable essence of longing itself.

It is a longing not just for tangible landscapes, but for mythic realms and narratives steeped in ancient lore. Drawing inspiration from Greek mythology, Egyptian mysticism, and Mediterranean antiquity, his anthropomorphic scenes become a conduit for timeless narratives, where sweeping branches reach out like the disembodied limbs of dryads, and mountains echo the power of ancient deities like the Pagan mother.

Cordero eschews photographic reference, opting for intuitive formation and instinctive expression. Despite an existing fascination with inhospitable landforms and harsh outcrops, he nonetheless begins to evoke softer vistas; perhaps reminiscent of Australian terrain. The paintings evolve organically through his assessment and response to the image as it emerges. At the inception of a work, what is being created is far from certain—by abandoning predetermined structure, the composition and palette resolves itself as the work develops.

Axes are ambiguous, and diptychs hang interchangeably. Each orientation denies the other, leaving us suspended in a state of perpetual anticipation—a paradox of incompleteness. It is a collective yearning for something we know is tangible. We long for a conclusion that exists just beyond our reach, and yet we remain and ponder, as if the impossible answer might just eventually reveal itself to us.

Anthea Mentzalis

May, 2024