Where were you born/brought up and how has this affected your painting?
I was born in Havana, Cuba in 1957. I lived in the island till I turned thirteen as a matter of fact; my birthday was during the travelling process. I left there part of my dearest family to never return. I arrived in Madrid in 1970.
I lived in Spain and USA, (New York and Seattle, Washington). I am currently living in Spain, in a small town near Madrid.
Experiences are the soul and core of your painting. If you work to connect emotions to your hand/brain they build up through piles of experiences and finally come out by the magic touch of a brush. They become the personality of who you are in painting and how you choose to be seen. That’s why when an exhibition comes up you feel naked in from of the spectators.
Please can you tell us about your artistic practice?
Many years of experience and many hours of work are behind me.
I usually approach a subject as a project trying to believe in what it is going to communicate through its plastic possibilities and mainly through its meaning. It implies many tests, thinking process and reading. Not all the ideas become paintings. I believe that in order to develop a mature painting you have to trust your subject. Whether if it is landscape, figure or interiors I must work on it through sketches, small or large sizes, till it allows total freedom from form. Of course this is not an easy task and hesitation is always at your side but observing the process and “hearing” what this process has to say in each step of the way you will find great analysis of the whole. Sometimes you spend more time observing than using your brushes.
Finally, I think that painting as I understand it is a mixing of all your knowledge and sensations as close to failure as it is to success.
Have you always worked in an abstract way?
No, it’s part of a step by step evolution. I am not as abstract as I would like to be, at least not yet.
What art education have you received?
I was always good in drawing. Anything around me could be a subject and it proved to be one of my best skills in my school years. This left in me the memory of a fantastic hypnotic feeling. Due to personal circumstances, immigration and caring for a family being quite young prevented me from focusing in my art education. Not until I was about thirty eight years old or so I could return to it.
Then, I became unstoppable. Community painting courses. Seminars with University professors, live model classes. Travelling to Madrid in a weekly basis to assist to art classes in a private school. Visit to Museums, books, lectures. I could say that anything that was art related I was there. I discovered an enormous passion that little by little was materializing in amazing results. In 2000 I happened to assist to a one week seminar in Albarracín, “Landscape superior course”. It’s organized by the Fine Arts Complutense University of Madrid. I feel that this course changed my life. It was there when I realize that there was a whole new world in painting yet to be discovered. Years later I became a student at the Fine Arts Complutense University completing my five year Degree with honors specializing in Plastic Arts. Nowadays, I collaborate with the University painting department from time to time and I am also one of the teachers at the Albarracin Landscape Superior course.
What and whom are your influences?
This question has a wide range of answer possibilities so I will talk about some of my favorite painters.
I believe that expressionism is the movement that I identify myself with.
Influences…?? Matisse, James Ensor, Picasso, Derain, Van Gogh, Velazquez, Goya, Fortuny, Joaquin Mir, Sorolla, The Bosch, Arcimboldo and many others.
There is an American group I love and admire. The Bay Are Figurative Group. You will find there Richard Diebenkorn, Nathan Oliveira, David Parks, Elmer Bischoff, Joan Brown, Manuel Neri.
Also Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, Willem DeKooning, Mark Rothko, Motherwell, and many many others.
Do you have any shows coming up?
I have an exhibition coming up in September, a solo show in November and another one in March 2016.
At the same time there some galleries that carry my work and some others that I am in conversation with. Let’s see how it all goes.
September 2015, Ibercaja Showroom, Spain, Group Show, I am the organizer. A solo show in November, Lorenzo Colomo Gallery, Valladolid, Spain. March 2016, Torreblanca Showroom, Albarracín, Teruel, Spain. I also have works at Tew’s Gallery Atlanta, USA: http://tewgalleries.com/works.php?id=110&t=est.
How does living in a small town affect your work?
I am currently living in Guadalajara, Spain . It’s a small town. I have my own study and the peaceful and easiness of the area allows me to create without any big city pressure. Half of the week I reside in an even smaller town up at the country site. This tiny country town, (about thirty to forty habitants) lies at the mountain side. Houses are built from quartzite and slate roofs. It’s not easy to cope living and painting between two different places in fact this has slowed down my painting process but I believe with time and effort everything will come to peace. Mountain views and the natural scenery will soon show as a permanent part of my creative process.
