Virgil Carrillo creates abstract art using cake tools

Bergen County-based artist Virgil Carrillo will be featured in a group exhibit, Pathway to Abstraction, at Chelsea’s Agora Gallery.

The exhibition opens on December 23 and runs until January 15, with a reception on January 8.

Virgil makes use of cake icing tools and silicone wedges, in conjunction with the usual paintbrush, to craft his abstract acrylic paintings. These tools allow Carrillo to layer his thicker paints, creating additional volumes that are skillfully manipulated to create stronger art statements. The resulting dynamic image that draws on what Carrillo terms “colored lyricism” is achieved through the amalgamation of controlled gesture, geometry, pattern, and bold color choices.

His broad brushstrokes, inspired in part by the magnified paints of Roy Lichtenstein’s Brushstrokes series, are arranged in hypnotic patterns that lure viewers in. According to Virgil, the colors and shapes are the subjects of his works, composed to one cohesive image, painted purely for aesthetic reasons.

“My goal is to create universally appealing art, avoiding any socio-political commentary,” he said.

He would like his art to focus instead on his own colorful, captivating self-expression, with which he hopes to bring a sense of happiness and life affirmation to his audience.

Through an artist’s statement, Virgil describes his art: “My abstract paintings are meant to be impersonal but are designed to be beautiful, simple, big, and even quirky at times. The colors, shapes, and textures are the subjects of my artworks, combined into one cohesive image, created purely for aesthetic reasons. The intention is to use the elements and principles of art in ways that result in visually stimulating and appealing works. With my unconventional technique of using tools other than brushes, paint is spread in thick layers, creating strong statements of bold, colored lyricism in large canvases that would look amazing on vast walls and in large spaces, even when viewed from a distance.

“I live to be a creator of beautiful art, the kind that evokes feelings of joy and well-being in the viewers. I want to confront and dazzle them with my paintings’ visual forms, swirls, geometric patterns, hypnotic lines and bright colors, filling their eyes and their heads. I want them to be swept away.”

The Philippine-born artist currently lives and works in Bergen County, New Jersey. He is a veterinarian, business owner and an avid art collector.