Julián Gil is one of the great geometers of Spanish art, and a loyal follower of

 Constructivism 

an art and architecture movement born in 1914 in Russia which became known particularly after the October Revolution. The movement defends an active engagement of the artwork with its surrounding space. The term was first used by Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935) in 1917 to contemptuously describe a work by Aleksander Rodchenko (1891-1956) and it did not have a positive connotation until the Realist Manifesto from 1920.

ever since his beginnings as an artist. His work contains references to the practised by Picasso (1881-1973), Juan Gris (1887-1927) and Torres García (1874-1949) and to the minimalist geometry of Palazuelo (1916-2007) and Oteiza (1908-2003).

Julián Gil’s works might seem at first glance like simple coloured geometric compositions. However, nothing in them is the outcome of chance. Everything is the result of a prior study based on mathematical formulas which the artist uses as a means to reach a path of harmony and perfection in his work.

For this reason he grouped his works in series alluding to various kinds of geometric drawings or mathematical formulas. That is the case of Raíz de dos, a series whose works are based on √2 rectangles and their relationships through a mechanism of folds.

His compositions are rendered through basic rules, like the number of points of reference, the order of the execution and the directions of the lines, the type of pattern or the location of the forms in space and their interconnections.

But this geometry would be nothing without an accurate, harmonious and energetic study of colour. For Julián Gil the use of colour is critical, for colour is what injects his works with a kaleidoscopic and vivacious quality.

The artist works with a palette limited to 64 colours, with a dominance of many tones of black, brown, ochre, green, yellow, orange, emerald, red and pink. In this specific series the colours are reduced to the range of red, yellow, green and blue.

Combining all those elements—mathematical formulas, rules of order, geometry and colour—Gil manages to create dynamic compositions out of basically static elements.

The BBVA Collection also possesses paintings from his Ortogonal and Ortogonal/escuadra series, where the artist uses a variety of geometric structures as a base.