Sowing Water, Doubling Reality 

«Sowing water» is a phrase used in the Alpujarras to refer to an ancient technique for conserving the meltwater from snow, reflecting the ecological wisdom of its agricultural communities. It involves creating «acequias de careo» (open channels and branches on the slopes) to «entertain the water,» delaying its departure from the mountain, which helps it filter into underground aquifers. 

This practice modifies the landscape, as José Ramón Guzmán Álvarez points out when he explains that the Alpujarras are «slopes where the water from the peaks of Sulayr was domesticated, water that was in a hurry to become the Mediterranean, and was detained in twists and turns, multiplying its natural tendency towards fertility.» Nico Munuera also notes this: «The water flows through new paths that draw an interwoven surface. New slopes become flooded. Rocks that had remained almost immobile for years now dislodge or roll to another place.» Later, the water will reappear, germinating life in ancient stony areas, in the form of springs or thanks to wells. 

In these practices, the artist does not find inspiration, but rather a way of working similar to his own when approaching the canvas, «a piece of land I wander through that becomes a path to knowledge and meditation. A territory over which I lean and delve into through a profound game of observation and continuous movement. A simple practice that involves guiding the ink within the limits bordering the canvas and a bit beyond, always allowing the water to show its nature. Understanding water. Containing time. Water, an inseparable element of my work, leads me to simplicity and a complete union with nature. A nature that lies within and beneath our feet, where connecting with it is being aware of our ephemeral and constant temporality.» 

Comparing the «sowing of water» with Nico Munuera’s work is a beautiful and suggestive analogy; however, we must note a difference that arises from this confession: fully taming water is an illusion, even for a master in its handling, because he is aware of moving in a mutable territory that becomes a region to explore. There is always something unexpected, to be discovered—as the artist insists—because painting is a watery medium that takes a week to dry; until it is completely dry, things keep happening, generating layers. It’s like unexpected rain, before which one either runs or merges to extract its immaculate sap, trusting that it will fertilize the earth. 

He perceives this whole process as an opportunity for revelation, which, in its course, fosters thoughts about his own role and the action he exerts on the surface to be painted. Painting is thinking, especially when the artist moves away from academic rigor, heading towards other avenues of expression. 

Among these, a concession to the natural reflection rarely seen before stands out, presenting this particular series as a milestone in his career. Indeed, this time an outside world also appears explicitly, although we could also think that the logic of archive and creation explained in the intimacy of his studio now takes shape in the gallery. This should not be understood as a contradiction of all that has been explained before, which would repeat sterile discussions about the condition of the painting as a representation, but rather it reaches a new stage of that «contemplative reflection» guiding the approach to Nico Munuera’s work. 

It is about the correspondence found in the works called Folia Aqua, composed of his characteristic abstract paintings on paper in dialogue with photographs of nature. On one hand, the title gives a clue to the polysemy of folia, which refers to the leaves of trees, but also to paper; furthermore, to each of the equal parts that result from folding a sheet. Again, attractive symmetries, «reflections» in which to lose one’s gaze, recovering the aforementioned meaning of the word as «fold and turn back.» 

In fact, another word that has accompanied the production of this series is flexio, the flexion that creates a duality. Therefore, each Folia Aqua is a double composition that behaves «with the duality caused by a mirror projecting two different formal realities»—explains the artist—to show two different temporal moments, but which are equated to constitute the same reality. This does not mean they are the same, but that they belong to the same world of the artist, uniting the archive of natural elements collected over the years with the painting created in the studio, «painting as nature itself and the act of painting as a way of connecting to the inner impulse of nature.» This awareness is what pulls Nico Munuera out of his introspection and reveals him eager for reality, although it is also recognized that the interior will always be the true measure of the world. 

The result is virtuosic, and the sense of contemplation it provokes is extraordinary. Perhaps this happens because we are «catoptric animals»—as Umberto Eco called humans—eager to contemplate our own reflection, but also the fruits of duplicating an image, with its inversions and the pleasurable vision it creates. However, more than adopting Eco’s elucidation, I would take Francisco Jarauta’s words to apply them to the definition of the Folia Aqua series: «The parts come together again / and their unity remains as if suspended / on the smooth surface of the glass, / as if trying to avoid the pain / of another shipwreck. / But it’s only a mirage. / The mirror is always a wonder / where reality and illusion are confused.» 

From a certain distance, one could even revisit the claims that Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczek made about the word formosus, which would establish an idea of beauty in harmony with the forms of nature, thus considering symmetry a fundamental value. However, this association poses problems since symmetry and harmony are not necessarily corresponding terms, and it would approach standards that have little to do with Nico Munuera. 

What characterizes Entretener el agua is the disposition in which it places us to observe «a reality that reflects another or refers us to another dimension (…), to achieve, in contrast, that necessary reflection on what is the identity of our immediate environment and what we would like to project.» Speculations of speculations to reflect an enigma, with the desire to make us contemplatively observe new epiphanies.