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Antonio Figuero journey to the Red House actually began in 2018.
That’s when the young artist began painting the Red House, at the time it was still under restoration. It was because of this passion that he was invited to last Friday’s re-opening of the Red House as the seat of Parliament to create a painting of this once in a lifetime event.
An invitation he almost declined because the significance of the moment almost overwhelmed him. But he accepted, creating a truly beautiful image of the newly re-opened parliament chamber, from his view in the media box.
As an artist Figuero specialises in cityscapes. So the Red House intrigued him. The Richard Bridgen’s designed structure cuts an unusual figure in downtown Port- of- Spain.
It’s colour sets it apart in a sea of neutral colour buildings. He has done several paintings of the Red House from various angles over the years. Even though it was still under restoration. He says we may never witness something like this again, and as a artist he had to capture it.
One that he created viewing the building from Sackville Street, so that it is framed by the Plice Headquarters, old and new, has been acquired and is now part of the Parliament art collection.
It is that piece that secured his invitation. “As a matter of fact, when I was doing the one on Sackville Street, they were seeing me inside the Red House And it was after that I got the call,” he says.
But he almost refused the opportunity. As a landscape artist, who specialises in cityscapes, Figuero is accustomed to painting still life. The re-opening of Parliament, would have been full of people. The challenge almost overwhelmed him. But he decided to accept the opportunity. Even while there, seated in the media box, the old fear rose again. But then he remembered that a painting is not a photograph, and he was able to put brush to paper.
“I don’t worry about perfection. However it comes out, it comes out,” he says. “You learn rules in art like perspective, light, shadows, et cetera. A lot of times I would break the rules of perspective because I can. And I have the freedom to do so,” he said.
Figuero is a self-taught artist. He laughs when asked about his professional training, because for him it began and ended in secondary school: South East Port of Spain. But he owes his art teacher there his solid foundation.
Dennis Seaton taught him drawing, composition, and colour theory. “One thing he would say: learn to mix your colours. Learn to mix your colours! And to this day, that is true,” he says.
As for the painting he created last week Friday it is the only one of it’s kind. A true original. “I am curious to see where this will end up as well, because there is some kind of competition for it now, apparently,” Figuero says sheepishly.
