Art:pmiami

Daniel Pontet was born in Montevideo (Uruguay) in 1957 and moved to South Florida (USA) in 1991. He is an award-winning multimedia fine artist who is also acknowledged for his illustrations, caricatures and cartoon images.

The artist has been exhibiting his work since 1975 and has taken part in over 80 art shows. With his painting, ‘The Green Miami,’ he brought home first prize in the Miami division of the national 2004 Hispanic Mural Program sponsored by Heineken. Furthermore, he obtained second place in the 2004 Hispanic Heritage Month by Nationwide, Columbus, OH, and third prize for Nuestro Arte by Johnnie Walker in Miami, in 1996.

More recently, Pontet won first prize in 2009 Small Format Malmö Award at the Svenska Gallery in Malmö, Sweden and was named one of the Top 100 Latinos in Miami by the Fusionarte Association from Madrid, Spain.

Pontet has been working as a caricaturist, cartoonist, and illustrator for the publishing industry both in the USA and Latin America since 1978 - Editorial América-Televisa, the ESPN Network / The Walt Disney Co., Gol TV, and El Nuevo Herald newspaper.

He studied drawing and painting with well-known artists in Uruguay such as Esteban Garino (Jose L. Zorrilla de San Martin’s disciple), Americo Spósito (the School of Torres-Garcia) and Héctor Laborde (Miguel A. Pareja’s student). He read Art History and Aesthetics at the School of Humanities of University of Uruguay. Since then, he has added silkscreen, welding, sculpture, photography, and computer graphics as a complement to his art education.

Pontet has been involved with his community for the past 20 years, helping and advising artists from different ages, organizing several cultural events, and hosting workshops at schools and colleges.

1975 - 1987 | realism
1987 - 2004 | expressionism
2004 – present | symbolism

The earliest stages of Pontet’s works can be placed in realism and expressionism or the neo expressionist circles (figurative art) and during this time he uses drawing as a fundamental element. He opens and closes spaces, and organizes his balance and refuge within the canvass with grace and strength as well as drama and lyricism.

In this period, he devotes most of his energy and power of expression to depicting a world of indifferent, dauntless and forlorn characters. Pontet stirs these meditative beings with an expressionist glare, manifesting a deep and underlying reflection on the human condition. He also creates unique rhythmical and chromatic consonances throughout these motifs.

Pontet’s early series share outstanding traits characterized by accomplished drawing, well thought-out compositions, mathematically precise structures, distortions and deliberate elongations, as well as the use of a rich polychrome palette of tones and hues.

Today, immersed in a new plastic period called “Metamorphosis,” Pontet is recreating part of an enigmatic world of symbols. From realism to abstraction, his current works –teeming with feelings, thoughts, meditations and not lacking in lyricism, are eminently plastic.

These mixed media artworks or collages look like accurate maps where we can find a path to thinking as well as to reflecting on our own spiritual life. This later series is also characterized by colors extracted from the soil –from brown to red oxide– and is incrusted with objects –keys, nails, washers, pieces of fabric, threads- which become powerful symbols and metaphors. Each symbol carries a profound spiritual message.

Landscapes and Mysteries Series – by Daniel Pontet

I was born in Montevideo, a small city for the world, but yet “the big city” for Uruguay where most of my childhood experiences took place.. My neighborhood, my school, and my friends’ houses were the boundaries of my urban life. They were places full of people, noise and vibrancy.

Fortunately, on a few occasions I visited relatives in the countryside. These scattered contacts with nature made a lasting impression on me. For the first time I observed the open fields and prairies and imagined them as immense, silent, green oceans. Out of this silence that surrounded me, voices, fantasies, dreams and thousands of stories emerged from this landscape. I call that landscape “Campos.”

Another universe of shadows, monsters and scary sounds emerged when those same fields were shrouded in darkness. Magical and supernatural characters became part of my fantasy world. I watched myself turn inward and develop my imagination. That’s how “Campos” transforms into “Misterios” –mysteries.

I used this experience of duality – lightness and dark –immensity and fear- in my artwork. I recreate every shape and contrast light and shadow but also explore the magical powers of ghosts and elusive spirits that I had experienced in the vast night.

In my compositions, the themes of change and elemental transformation, are elements that were born during my visits to the countryside. The skies and trees and blooming seeds are the concrete images that bring me back to my essence as a human being. I return to those moments and then move on again, changed profoundly by the experience.