(…) Someone commented on a given occasion that great artists pursue an obsession. In his case it becomes increasingly conscious. It reveals through a symbolic universe of its own that distinguishes him, a way of doing and of interpreting the reality that may change, but the path will always be the same. When you know his painting it is difficult not to identify some of his pictures. He has already delimitated his obsession, on which he will once and again return.
At the beginning, the wish to explore the imagined inner life of daily objects or others taken from the environment, as the toys that marked his generation, becomes visible. These initial pieces, more anecdotic, bring about a given sensation of strangeness when placing us before ambiguous images that, at times, insinuate a possible dialogue or relationship among beings or objects that apparently do not keep any link at all. With that, he achieves an extremely poetic image, full of sensitivity and lyricism.
As time passes, the links with physical reality begin to get blurred and the forms acquire a more imaginative and symbolic aspect. The narrative character begins to give way to a much deeper speech and mutual understanding with the very act of painting. Indeed, Pollo’s present painting is a shot to the intellect. He increasingly liberates himself from the descriptive sense to turn it into an intellectual exercise; he becomes more subtle appealing to the synthesis of the idea and, the more he simplifies, the more he communicates; it becomes more intimate, more mysterious.
In my opinion, his work is a sort of tribute to the Avant-garde since he assimilates, from an entirely contemporary perspective, the great contributions of modern art. With a new visualization, he does not forget to remind us about Picasso, Giorgio de Chirico, Magritte, or whom the artist himself acknowledges as his main influence: Giorgio Morandi. The debt with metaphysical painting, the one that in the early 20th century settled the bases for the ulterior development of the surrealist movement, is undeniable. The artist tries to penetrate the inner world of that apparent inanimate world. His works are wrapped in a halo of mystery which makes us question ourselves about the existence of those forms and the way in which they reached their present state; their existence seems possible to us, although reason indicates us it is not so. The bodies begin to take their physiognomy through the appendixes, as if it were in our reach to be able to decompose them by parts and assemble them again. Spheres, squares, rectangles with diverse sizes which never can be perfect seem to be the point of departure for the figures populating his symbolic universe.
In the same way, his painting privileges the gesture with an expressionist content. We cannot remain indifferent before the figures and forms inhabiting his paintings; we know they are not real, but are believable. It seems that they feel, endure, breathe. Although they usually suffer from some imperfection or show themselves in their more primitive form, without an accurate mold, they seem unperturbed, aware of themselves. They are capable of transmitting us their state of mind, emotions and feelings transiting through nostalgia, sadness, peace, harmony. (…)