Plastic Paint Medium
Plastic Paint Medium
Definition
Plastic Paint Medium (also referred to as Pictorial Plastic Medium) is a painting technique developed by
the contemporary Cuban artist Josignacio (1963– ) (José Ignacio Sánchez Rius) in 1984, in the city of
Havana, Cuba.
The technique consists of using pigmented epoxy resin as an autonomous painting medium, applied
directly for the execution of complete paintings, both abstract and neo-figurative.This practice is considered the first documented use of pigmented epoxy resin as a painting system in
itself, and not as an accessory material (varnish, adhesive, encapsulation, or sculptural element) within the
artistic process. From this innovation arose the subsequent global movement of using pigmented resin in
art and in multiple decorative and industrial applications.
Technical Description
Plastic Paint Medium is created through the controlled mixing of epoxy resin and catalyst, into which
color pigments are incorporated. Once the mixture is applied to the support—typically placed in a
horizontal position—and the curing process is complete, the pictorial surface exhibits:
• A completely plastic finish
• High hardness and mechanical resistance
• Stable sheen and vitreous appearance
• Optical depth and translucency
• High resistance to humidity, chemical agents, and ultraviolet radiation
These properties structurally and visually differentiate Plastic Paint Medium from traditional media such
as oil, acrylic, watercolor, or tempera, allowing three-dimensional and luminous effects that are difficult
to achieve with those materials.
Historical Context
Until the mid-1980s, epoxy resin was not used as an autonomous painting medium. In the artistic field, its
use was primarily limited to:
• Protective varnishes
• Adhesives
• Encapsulation and coatings
• Molds and sculptural casting
There are no known records prior to Josignacio’s work that document the systematic use of pigmented
epoxy resin as the primary vehicle for pigment in the creation of complete paintings.
Origin and Development
Josignacio began his experiments with epoxy resin in Havana, Cuba, in 1984, when he observed its use as
a transparent coating in aeromodelling models. Based on that experience, he began mixing the resin with
pigments, obtaining a solid surface with great sheen and hardness, which behaved as a new type of paint.
His first complete work with this medium was Opera Prima, a neo-figurative representation of a human
face. For over two years, he continued researching with small quantities until he consolidated a stable
working method.
On March 2, 1987, he held his first solo exhibition at the Liceo Artístico y Literario of the City of Regla
(Havana), comprised almost entirely of works executed with the new medium. From that moment on,
Plastic Paint Medium became the central axis of his artistic production.The term “Plastic Paint Medium” was coined by Josignacio himself as the name for both the medium and
the technique, and was later registered as a trademark.
Critical Recognition
The technical and visual innovation of Plastic Paint Medium has been analyzed by various critics and
intellectuals:
• Cuban art critic Leonel López-Nussa described the new visual effect as a “New Ism,” referring to it with
the term Newism.
• Writer and essayist Dr. José Antonio Portuondo described Josignacio as “the artistic representative of
the plastic age.”
• Journalist Toni Piñera published one of the first texts on the technique in the Cuban press under the title
Las oleadas de resina de Josignacio (The Resin Waves of Josignacio).
• Nobel Prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez stated that Josignacio was “a revolution
within the Revolution.”
• In 1996, a work from the Dualism series, titled The 3 O’Clock, created with Plastic Paint Medium, won
Best in Show at the competitive exhibition Hortt 38 (Florida, USA). The then director of the Museum of
Art where the contest was held, Dr. Kenworth W. Moffett, defined the technique as “the result of the
marriage between art and technology.”
• The curator of that event, who awarded him Best in Show—the renowned and respected art historian
Professor William C. Ogee of Hunter College, City University of New York—stated:
“When I judged the 38th Annual Hortt Memorial Competition and Exhibition in 1996, where Josignacio
was awarded ‘The Best in Show Award’ for his ‘Dualism Series’ painting, ‘3 O’ clock,’ I considered the
work’s expressive power, authenticity, intensity, and formal and technical accomplishment.”
• Regarding his mastery of the technique, Roberto Cobas Amate, art critic, chief curator of the National
Museum of Fine Arts of Havana, Cuba, and writer, has written:
“Using the Plastic Paint Medium technique, Josignacio has become a true master of this method.”
• Cuban painter Gilberto Marino has noted:
“The way Josignacio paints is not only very original, but with the use of his Plastic Paint Medium, he
achieves a completely new and beautiful visual effect.”
These and other assessments have placed Josignacio’s work among the outstanding technical innovations
of late 20th-century art.
Impact and Global Expansion
Since the late 20th century, the use of pigmented epoxy resin has become widespread in contemporary art
and in numerous industrial and decorative sectors, including:
• Furniture production
• Flooring and architectural surface coatings
• Design of decorative and functional objects• Artistic and artisanal interventions on both small and large scale
This set of practices, frequently grouped under generic names such as “resin art” or “epoxy art,”
developed subsequent to Josignacio’s pioneering work and constitutes a material and commercial
expansion of an innovation that originated with Plastic Paint Medium.
For this reason, specialized literature considers Josignacio the creator and historical initiator of the artistic
use of pigmented epoxy resin as an autonomous painting medium, the direct antecedent to the later global
popularization of this material.
Historical Distinction
From a historical-technical perspective, a clear distinction can be established between:
- The documented origin of the painting medium: the development of Plastic Paint Medium by
Josignacio in 1984 and its consolidation in the 1987 exhibition.
- Subsequent applications of pigmented resin, many of them oriented toward decorative or commercial
purposes and, in numerous cases, disconnected from the original formulation and the pictorial purpose of
the technique.
Whereas Plastic Paint Medium is conceived as a structured pictorial language, based on layering, color
control, and figurative or abstract composition, much of contemporary so-called resin art relies on
free-pour procedures, random mixing effects, and an emphasis on surface finish, without the same
component of pictorial construction.
Historical Importance
Plastic Paint Medium is considered a relevant contribution to contemporary art for several reasons:
• It introduces a new painting medium, distinct from traditional ones and with its own material properties.
• It expands the formal and optical possibilities of painting, incorporating three-dimensional effects,
transparencies, and luminous depths.
• It establishes a lasting link between art, industry, and technology, by transforming an industrial material
into a complex visual language.
• It generates a global movement around the use of pigmented resin, of which Josignacio is recognized as
the initiator and historical reference.
Semiotic Reading
Various theoretical analyses have approached Plastic Paint Medium through semiotics and image theory:
• Inspired by Umberto Eco, some authors point out that the technique makes the medium visible, so that it
ceases to be a transparent channel and becomes part of the code: the solid resin, the sheen, and the volume
do not merely support the message—they constitute it.
• Following Charles Sanders Peirce’s typology, the work shifts from the iconic sign toward the material
index: the three-dimensionality and solidification of color act as traces of time, gesture, and chemical
process, rather than mere optical illusions.• In dialogue with Roland Barthes, color in Plastic Paint Medium has been described as an “embodied
signifier”: it is not limited to symbolizing emotions or concepts, but imposes itself through its weight,
hardness, and resistance, demanding a perceptual and bodily reading.
These approaches converge in the idea that, in Josignacio’s work, abstraction and neo-figuration function
less as stylistic categories than as levels of reading within an open pictorial system regulated by the
materiality of the medium itself.
Recommended Critical Bibliography
Umberto Eco
• Opera aperta (1962)
• A Theory of Semiotics (1976)
• The Role of the Reader (1979)
• The Limits of Interpretation (1990)
Charles Sanders Peirce
• Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce (Vols. I–VIII)
• The Essential Peirce (Vols. 1–2)
Roland Barthes
• Elements of Semiology (1964)
• Image–Music–Text (1977)
Complementary Readings
• Rosalind Krauss, The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths
• Nelson Goodman, Languages of Art
• Georges Didi-Huberman, Confronting Images