Louis Vega Trevino’s painting reflects a deep understanding of historical precedents. Without any derivative step, he has built upon a number of important, painterly languages to evolve a style that is instantly recognizable as uniquely his own. Trevino’s painting recalls not only the atmospheric color fields of Mark Rothko and Julies Olitski, but also that indeterminate margin where color field interests merge with the geometric and optical abstraction of Gene Davis and Richard Anuszkiewicz. It is in that margin that Trevino’s work finds its form, an area once explored by Morris Louis and which Trevino’s color-charged compositions have revived and redefined.
Trevino’s painting is something of a paradox: balancing cool analysis with a hot pursuit of color relationships in which he blurs the distinction between color, line and form such that those elements seem to merge and deconstruct in an astonishing blend of earthy umbers, orchids and sienna’s deployed against jewel-like hues that are only primary in relation to one another. Trevino’s daring approach to color relations breaks new ground in the history of colorists, a tradition in which he is rapidly establishing a secure and intriguing position.