Lino Lago’s solo exhibition, CTRL+Paint, is his first at RHODES since 2023.
Lago was born in Spain in 1973, going on to complete his degree at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid. He is best known for his Fake Abstract series, ongoing since 2015. In Fake Abstract, Lago employs his unique visual language of traditional portraiture overlaid with a contemporary minimalist mask. Since his graduation, Lago’s work has been featured in countless solo and group exhibitions across the world, from Berlin to New York.
In CTRL+Paint, Lago continues to develop his dialogue with art history and the digital age. He creates oil renditions of classics, such as Girl with a Pearl Earring, only to cover them in a layer of solid colour or gold leaf. The glimpses left remaining of the portrait are within a digitally inspired swoop or swirl that reveals what is beneath, forcing the two eras to co-exist on one canvas. While there is a multiplicity of meanings to his work, the key one is his questioning and combining the older style of painting with new, digital potentials. While Lago may paint the portraits in oils himself, it’s the graphic colour fields and pixel-art-inspired lines that create the meaning of these pieces. In this way, Lago explores how we reimagine art in a digital world and how this digitisation could, in fact, enhance the value of what we deem as authentic or classic.
One work to be highlighted in the solo exhibition is Fake Abstract (Pierre Mignard). As the title suggests, Lago’s starting point was a portrait by the 17th-century French artist, known for his portraits and religious scenes. Lago’s recreation of the work has the sitter covered in a layer of gold leaf, with only glimpses of her face, neck, and chest exposed. In contrast to the delicate shading of the figure, the sharp edges of the line separating her from the gold stand out, adding a layer of depth to the work. However, the flatness of the canvas reminds us she has been painted over and does not exist beyond the gold, and the value of the work is now in the gold leaf, rather than the painterly skill used in depicting her.
Lago’s disruption of expectations, especially in the classical portrait genre, provides a compelling narrative of quality in the modern art world. His pieces demonstrate how value is not always in an artwork’s medium, and that while some may see digital as lesser, the medium or its style can often be used to enhance the meaning of already beloved works.
CTRL+Paint is in the RHODES Project Room from 1st–30th of August. Please email info@rhodescontemporaryart.com for more information.
