Figuration Meets Abstraction in Federico Infante’s Suspenseful Paintings

Figures are subsumed in textured paint that drifts over the horizon like a thick fog in Federico Infante’s mysterious configurations of oils on canvas. Infante begins by working with the background, layering different pigments in an intuitive process that yields unique hues of taupe and dusky blue. But despite their abstract nature, Infante’s paintings reveal a narrative quality within his careful selection of figurative details.

In one piece, a woman faces a tall gate that could mark the entrance to a cemetery or perhaps a remote, countryside estate. In another, a Truman Capote-like figure in a trench coat, hat and glasses is trailed by floating pieces of paper that would undoubtedly contain an important clue if Infante’s suspenseful paintings were films. Perhaps most of all, these works are poignant because so much is omitted — an open invitation for the viewer’s imagination to run wild.