Enrique Mora Finds the Perfect Balance

Have you ever looked closely at a painting by Jacksonville artist Enrique Mora Known for his use of vibrant hues and striking color combinations, Mora is also a master of employing texture to add depth and dimension. His compositions are a visual feast for the eyes and have a tactile quality that often leave the viewer wanting to reach out and touch his sumptuous creations.

Mora has always been fascinated by color. Growing up in the Caribbean, he was surrounded by a vast deep blue sea and exposed to the island’s lush, tropical aesthetic. As an artist, he has been particularly interested in how these bright hues can be applied and experienced in harmony on a canvas: “Five years ago, I realized that I looked at colors as a mathematical equation…it all has to add up to a perfect balance.”

Mora also realized that adding texture to his paintings allowed him to express his “point of view just a little bit louder…adding a new dimension to my perception." In his floral compositions, as the detail image above shows, the paint is applied so thickly that the petals form wonderful soft peaks reminiscent of a delicious meringue. In other paintings, such as "The Girl from Marseille," layers upon layers of paint form small ridges and valleys that reveal glimpses of different colors hidden beneath the surface. The interconnectedness of color and texture in his work is unmistakable. As Mora notes, “You need light to have color, and you need texture to contour the light.”