Pedro Baldriche’s Urban Paintings

Story by Olga Connor that first appeared on February 3, 2006 in El Nuevo Herald, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.

They say that the first few years of life leave an indelible mark in the life of an artist. Nothing that comes later leaves an imprint on the soul as the experiences that one goes through in that golden age. Pedro Baldriche—architect and painter—recalls his childhood surprise at discovering the deep expanses of the ocean filled with foamy waves when the city bus would reach the peak of the hill at the corner of Reina and Belascoain Streets in Havana, Cuba.

“We would be coming from Mantilla, going through the neighborhoods of La Víbora, Santos Suárez, and downtown Havana, taking the 10 de Octubre Causeway from top to bottom, always surrounded by brownish grey buildings, when suddenly, out of the emptiness, would appear a white and blue light that would reveal the bright buildings of El Vedado, the Focsa, the Havana Hilton, and the Someillán buildings.”
Baldriche was born in 1949, so therefore he would already be ten years old at this time, as these buildings were built at the end of the 1950s.

His reminiscences are tinted with the colors and smells of Havana, “The green colors and the odor of the green gardens and patios, the grey coming from the exhaust pipes of the vehicles and of the factories, the purple of the clouds about to unleash the rain, the reflection of the neon lights, and of the traffic lights upon the wet streets.” All of this is reflected in his paintings, which are expressionistic abstractions of the vital impressions he received during his childhood. But not all human beings share in this reaction—only those born to create art.

“I always painted, first for myself, and later for my friends and family. ‘You draw very well, you will be an architect’ they would tell me, but towards the end of the 1960s, although I was studying architecture, I competed in a pop art poster competition and I won.” This ambivalence between architecture and painting has never abandoned him. He considers himself to be both an architect and a painter. During the 1970s, already a practicing architect, he designed an office building for which he was asked to paint a mural in the lobby.
“I learned the technique from a muralist, and together with one of my assistants we were able to execute a figurative and historic mural with plain colors on a white background. From that starting point I continued to learn for real, connecting with the various plastic artists of my generation, as well as with all previous ones, such as Portocarrero, Silvia Vidal, and Antonia Eiriz.”
Baldriche studied engraving, serigraphy and printing on canvases, although he considers himself to be self-taught. He adds that he modeled his work on such diverse international artists as Le Corbusier, Picasso, Modigliani, Leonardo, Wifredo Lam, Gaudí, Mondrian, El Bosco, Matisse, Duchamp, Chirico and composers such as Mozart, Chaikovski, and The Beatles.
The theme of his exhibit, Baldriche 2006, which opened March 3, 2006 at the BPA Galleries in Coral Gables, Florida, focused on buildings. “Buildings and eroticism are my preferred topics,” adds the artist. “The whole universe is a sinuous and gyrating place in movement. Buildings move along with the planet, along with the land, along with the engines of vehicles, from a simple wheel to a railroad.” His is an urban landscape, but, in effect, with curved lines that at times have sharp edges that reveal stress and movement. There is light and dynamism, the overlapping of stores and businesses interspersed in the heterogeneous mass of his cities. In the best tradition of those who paint the architecture of Miami, such as Humberto Calzada and Gustavo Acosta, Baldriche is very different, due to the disquieting aspects of his art.

“See, there is beauty in everything,” he affirms. “I love downtown urban centers in the U.S., the concentration of towers that become mountains of windows, all concrete, glass and steel, amidst the craziness of daily life, the abundance of cars, the noise of supermarkets, stores, and entertainment venues.” He also confesses that all this is brimming with eroticism, as represented by the keyholes, the apple in New York, the huge M on the MacDonald’s logo and so many other lines found in the environment.

Many of his works reflect his concerns about technological development and urban sprawl, for example his ironic painting Downtown with Sea View. He detests the development that led to bedroom suburbs. His ideal city is one in which there are residences on top of lofts for businesses and artist’s workshops.