THE WEIGHT OF THE GAZE III, 2025

This third panel of the triptych The Weight of the Gaze extends Alex Rodriguez Plaza’s pictorial investigation into distorted self-perception and the weight of inner judgment. The female figure appears in left profile, creating a compositional symmetry with the first panel of the triptych. Her two open eyes sustain a penetrating, unavoidable gaze that confronts the viewer and draws them into a cycle of relentless introspection. The head, once again reduced to a dark mass of pictorial matter, reaches its highest gestural intensity here. Rapid, energetic, and at times deliberately failed brushstrokes coexist with solid geometric zones, generating a language of contrasts that heightens the emotional ambiguity of the work. This overflowing gesture grants the painting a unique vitality, perhaps the most visceral of the three. The background, deep and obscure, is interrupted only by beams of light and geometric planes that reinforce the introspective character of the scene. On the podium rests a small ochre-yellow sphere, motionless, in contrast with the rolling vermilion sphere of the central panel. Its stillness introduces an interpretative ambiguity: is it a sign of balance, of rest, or of resignation before self-criticism? A subtle detail distinguishes this piece: the presence of a hand, barely visible, fused with the background. This gesture dissolves the boundaries between figure and void, reinforcing the sense that the body is dissolving into the very space it inhabits. The woman depicted seems both solid and evanescent, suspended between the affirmation of her presence and the disintegration of her identity. The Weight of the Gaze III is the most visceral of the triptych, the most frenetic in its gesture and the most ambiguous in its resolution. An absorbing image where the rawness of self-criticism coexists with the persistence of inner life.

Alejandro Rodríguez Plaza (Madrid, 1992), known as Plaza, is a Spanish-Australian visual artist currently based in Sydney. Trained as an architect at the University of Granada, his career has evolved in parallel with a deep-rooted passion for painting and visual creation.
From his beginnings in Madrid’s urban art scene to the consolidation of a distinctive pictorial style, his work fuses elements of modern cubism, neofiguration, and surrealism, resulting in visually complex and emotionally charged compositions. His visual language—defined by bold color use, a balance between abstraction and figuration, and the presence of pure forms—builds a symbolic universe that explores themes of identity, contemporary artificiality, and the longing for individual freedom.
Plaza frequently incorporates deconstructed human figures, masks, hands, and eyes, forming an iconographic repertoire that speaks to social hyper-surveillance, imposed appearances, and the persistence of what is essential. His geometric backgrounds evoke dense, chaotic urban environments, while the presence of childlike elements points to a nostalgia for simplicity and authenticity.
His architectural background not only endowed him with technical precision but also shaped a structural vision that allows him to balance chaos with order: “Architecture taught me how to tame artistic vision and transform it into a solid language.”
His body of work is best understood as a pictorial manifesto in defense of authenticity against contemporary artifice: “We live surrounded by digital stimuli, yet we’re emptier than ever; my painting is an attempt to reconnect with the real—what still has the power to move us.”
His influences include Francis Bacon, George Condo, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Juan Gris, Franz Ackermann, Brett Whiteley, and Picasso, although his work has developed into a unique and contemporary visual voice.