– How did you come into contact with the art world?
– I came into contact with the art world many years ago, and at this point, I see it as if I had always been in it. I feel an enormous creative need and I don’t understand my life separated from art.
– You are considered a clear exponent of hyperrealism. However, how would you define his work?
– Although it is obvious that my work, given its characteristics, is framed within the most scrupulous hyperrealism, I also like to define it as an urban painting committed to the present moment. I certainly do not intend to produce in the viewer only the pleasurable sensation of seeing something imitated with extreme accuracy. In my work I look for scenes that serve as a testimony of the ways of acting and developing of any society. And more concretely of the one that has touched me to live.
– Drawing, painting, sculpture and, of course, photography. What drives you to move in such different disciplines? Which of them do you feel most comfortable with?
– I recognize that I am a restless artist, I need to use and investigate in all possible disciplines within the visual arts. And regarding the second part of your question, obviously the one in which I feel more comfortable is painting, although drawing is my passion. Drawing allows me the creation in my composition of the basic image, as well as the handling of the form, it is the foundation. Painting gives me the spectrum of the work itself and above all the light.
– Madrid is one of the main protagonists of your works, presented as if you were seeing it for the first time. What makes it so appealing to you?
– It is a city with a singular personality, but also with scenes and characters that have a similarity with any other big city in the world. Its scenes denote the idiosyncrasy of a global metropolis and allow me to give my work a commitment to temporality in the artistic manifestation. On the other hand, Madrid, more and more, is a city devoid of typicality, which has been phagocytized by its polyethnic and polysocial society, which provides such urban and cosmopolitan scenes, which is ultimately what I am looking for.
– One of your characteristics is the handling of perspective. How do you work with it?
– Evidently by means of a horizon line and vanishing points, although in my work I use a reticular process, since the most important characteristic of hyperrealism is the deformation of the image as a photographic lens would do, perspective alone is not enough to achieve the desired effect, even the free hand is important. As Michelangelo said: “The eye has so much practice that, with the naked eye, without further angles or distances, it is able to guide the hand to represent what it sees… but in no other way than by placing it in perspective”.
– How do you approach the creative process of your works?
– As for the process itself, I have already mentioned the paths I follow. Regarding the choice of the scene, I can tell you that I follow a strict study of it, collecting a good number of documentation, and after an arduous selective process I consider the way to attack on the canvas.
– You have received several awards and recognitions, what do they mean to you? Which one do you value the most?
– In reality, what I value most is being able to face my work every day. Recognitions are the result of years of profession and I already have some of them.
– At a time of crisis like the present, how does one survive in the art world? Is patronage, public or private, important or is the independence of the artist gaining strength?
– I believe in independence more than anything else. Look at the crisis that is now so much talked about, it is a perennial situation in the artist not only because of the economic aspect. In these current times, it is good to weigh whether the comfort and opulence in which we were made to believe is better than the discipline, self-criticism and capacity for sacrifice that we artists possess. I believe that this crisis was necessary and that we will come out of it stronger.
– The exhibitions involve a live “test” with the public. How do you feel about their reactions?
– I have to thank the gratifying manifestations I receive from the public about my work. I consider it the most sincere and true judgment an artist can receive.
– New technologies have a clear presence in your work: you regularly use a digital camera, and you have reflected the creative process of one of your paintings in your own blog. To what extent are they influencing the evolution of art today?
– Obviously I am one of those who think that the end does not justify the means, but it is also true, and I consider it so, that the purpose of the artist is creation. Today we have a variety of new technologies that help us in the process of our works. Avoiding us, sometimes, long and complicated steps. At this time they are necessary and we are grateful for their existence.
– After several decades dedicated to the art world, how do you think it has evolved in our country?
– I used to think that a person, by the mere fact of holding a paintbrush in his hand, deserved respect. Today, after many years in the profession, I believe that art deserves great respect from everyone.
-I consider that there is a great lack of professionalism, not only in those who consider themselves “artists” without being so, but also in everything that surrounds the art world. The criteria are imposed under tremendously subjective, economic and partisan interests, lacking knowledge about something as beautiful, difficult, and above all respectable, as art is. It is necessary to destroy the sack of “anything goes”.
– What would you say to all those who are starting out in the art world?
– If I have to tell you about my experience, despite the harshness of this profession, if I were to go back to my youth, I would take the same path again. It must be seen as a long term commitment, whose reward comes after a long way. So forget the glories and get to work with honesty and judgment. You have the responsibility to be the artists of tomorrow.
