Contributed by Will Maddoxx / Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about surface. Daniel Correa Mejía’s show “El amor se esconde como un animal salvaje” (“Love hides like a wild animal”) at P.P.O.W encouraged me to think harder. The paintings are oil on jute, and that surface’s rough, toothy quality is a very active ingredient in the viewing experience. Mejía himself responds to it with the same emotion – generally speaking, love – that his figures show one another. As the wispy jute falls back and comes forward, swirls, curves, and delicate brushstrokes cooperate. In El viaje de Pan, for instance, a small curl made by a thin stroke ensconces another curl rendered by the hair of the jute. It’s a quietly stunning effect.
