In his UK debut solo exhibition Fake Abstract, which was showcased by RHODES in 2020 the artist playfully treats his viewers to snippets of portraits through squiggles across monochrome canvases. And whilst distinctly influenced by the art academies of the late 18th and early 19th century, there is no doubt that both, conceptually and visually, Lago’s work belongs to the milieu of contemporary art.

Lago’s latest series continues to follow this unique narrative and expands on the themes explored in the Fake Abstract, developing the ongoing discourse between the old and the new via bold and diverse creative decisions. Lago experiments with the size of his canvas, from capturing details of the close-up face in the Fake Abstract (Bouguereau) to ambitiously scaling up in Fake Abstract (G. Van Honthorst). In other works, the artist breaks away from the monochromatic use of colour, joyfully incorporating vivid palettes and intuitively placing the squiggles across the classical portrait. He masters the technique of concealing and revealing certain parts and the result not only leaves the audience to wonder if a full Renaissance-like painting actually exists underneath, but also discusses theoretical concepts of reality, and how even though always fragmented, biassed and incomplete, it could never be fake. 

However, the new show also expresses Lago’s desire to push the boundaries of our reality perception even further, completely abandoning the conventions of the canvas. Instead, he fully focuses on the minimalist use of line, which started out as an imitation of marks left by a digital brush. But doing so, Lago re-claims traditional artistic methods and, in a way, critiques the contemporary art world’s notions of operating outside of any art historical context. He, on the contrary, alludes to art history, but in a completely unique and radical way. The cut out board panels which constitute a piece challenge the habitual and regular use of canvas and perception of space occupied by the subjects within it. Teasing the viewer with nothing else but glimpses, revealing a luxurious garment, a hint of the sitter’s pose, a singular detail of their face, he invites us to partake in the visual discourse of traditional and innovative and complete the puzzle in our own imagination.