Thoughts of a painter.

"A good drawing does not in any way compare unfavourably with a good painting. It is more the case that beneath every picture is an essential underlying drawing that sustains it, a skeleton that mobilises it and gives it form. Any painting lacking this base crumbles and appears flimsy.”

"Everybody asks themselves what art is. I think that art is any human creation that is able to lift the spirit to a higher plain of emotion and wonderment."

“…being a painter, a writer, a sculptor or a musician does not put one at a higher rank than any other profession. There are a lot of professions that, when carried out to the extreme, without a doubt achieve a higher level than that of the majority of artists. For instance, a wonderful craftsman, a maker of Manila shawls, can go further than a mediocre sculptor; the work can be superior. Or a great soccer player can raise greater passion than most of us, painters. To be an “artist” does not guarantee anything. However, sometimes a genius is born in a way that distinguishes the great arts, along with science, philosophy or politics, from any other endeavor. We cannot compare Michael Angelo’s Sixteen Chapel or Newton’s Law of Gravitation with the most amazing soccer goal. Art with capital letters is easy to detect; its light continues to shine through time.”
 

"Spanish painting has, throughout the centuries, maintained a serene and melancholic regard: tragic but never violent. There is no such thing as violent Spanish painting. Even the most ferocious Goya or the most horrifying Picasso never lose the composure and class inherent in the brushwork."

“I plead for humility in painting. Painting does not need so much fanfare or intellectual pretension. It must come from a person’s clean soul, from the clear and pure eye of the painter, even if only a simple apple is being painted. It is for this reason that I admire Morandi so much.”
 

2006 January

“Abstract Painting and Surrealist Painting, apart from being essential and marvelous in themselves, also fulfill an invaluable pedagogical function these days for any artist. They have now become part of Classical Art and are the Artistic Heritage for Spiritual Learning and Artistic technique. They are like gymnastics for the unaware and for the eye, providing places where almost all feelings and spiritual emotions can be hatched to finally lead to building this immeasurable and grandiose thing we call THE ART of PAINTING."

“I detest a large part of the minimalism that is practiced today across all the arts. I fear that within this alleged synthesis there is an excess of rubbish and uselessness floating around that serve only to confuse the audience, which at times may be ignorant but blameless, although, more frequently, intolerably pedantic, void of any understanding or knowledge.”

“A frame to a good painting is like a dress to a beautiful naked woman. It is not essential but serves to celebrate and give charm to the work.”
 

2006 JUNE

"To me, a painting is a combination of mistakes and successes. a mistake on a beautiful success. A success on a tender mistake.  Because a painting is something complete, the right balance between beauty und ugliness; black on white, white on black. and that is why one trembles when facing an empty canvas, when facing the nothing. I am a painter from the moment in which I can paint on failures and wastes, on seams and stitches. like a shoemaker who mends shoes. (2004)

2006 OCTOBER 

        "Art History is the emotional and spiritual History of humankind.  It is a retelling of its most sublime feelings materialized in works of art that transcend time.  Altamira and Lascaux are primitive examples of this human desire of expressing its emotions.  In my opinion, there is not one artistic era superior to another one in its initial impetus to create material proof of an emotion or a spiritual pleasure.  On the other hand, I do believe there have been art eras superior to others since the human being improved its technique.   In the same way that scientific progress always goes up, artistic progress, which needs technology to advance, grows in an upwards line.  However, this line is not continuous, since it depends on two factors: technique and spiritual emotion.  Art is not just a feeling.  Art is the feeling being materialized, incarnated, sculpted, written with skill and technique.  Cavemen had only a few tools at their reach; consequently their art is more primitive than Baroque Art, to give an example.  The problem stems from the fact that technique and emotion do not always move along parallel lines.  As a result, we can sometimes find art periods with a greater and purer emotional and spiritual impulse, even though they relied on an inferior technique.  On the other hand, we sometimes find other periods with better mediums, in which art is weaker due to the human soul being soured, repressed, or manipulated.   When the human spirit undergoes a sublime and free period, accompanied by a superior technique, then we will refer to this period as a Golden Art Age."

                                                                                     January 2006


“Present day Modern Art exudes a breath of fresh air and freedom never before imaginable. Up till now Art History has never had such an array of possible techniques for artists to choose from or such a variety of artistic languages for artists to fully express themselves. All the different Art schools and tendencies, favoritisms aside (even though they have always been there) enjoy a great open field that promises fabulous creations in the coming years…”
“Surrealism, which was born in the twentieth century as an art movement perfectly defined, is nowadays a tendency impacted by Expressionism, Figuratism, Abstract and many other schools of Art, which enrich it without diluting it or enlarge it without voiding it. I am of the opinion that the borders in art tend to vanish. It is still very complex to reflect upon this phenomenon since we find ourselves currently in this Art multimovement in search of the one Art. But beware, never should the one Art be an imposition or an absolute movement. Art is free by nature and it will always slip away, like water through our fingers, from the premonitions and the horizons that we try to impose on it.”

“ I am not a vanguard artist.  My art is contemporary, literally speaking: a product of its times.  Vanguard, on the contrary, represents the most innovative – neither better nor worse; like the sharp point of a spear which opens up new paths.  However, that sharp point needs all the power and weight of the rest of the spear, the weight of Art History.  Without all this History, there is no push to open up new ways.  Vanguard Art represents freshness, novelty, surprise, the truth and the fake, a risky and fascinating bet.  However, what intrigues me is to draw from the classic and contemporary traditions, to deepen into the walked path, and to remain vigilant – like many other artists – to provide vanguard artists with a solid foundation.  Much in the same way as an older brother holds his youngest brother’s hand with fascination as the intrepid child peeks, with wonderful daring and no fear, into the abyss.  I need to keep an eye on the Vanguard Movement because it keeps me young as an artist, it cleanses me, it clears up my spirit so that my view doesn’t sour.  I am a part of the body of the spear and, from that vantage point, I observe with fascination the young sharp art poking at the same time as I draw from the magnificent work of the masters of all times, the powerful legacy that sustains us.  I am not part of the sparkles – sometimes ephemeris – of the spearhead.  Each one of us has his role, and mine, nowadays, is not in the vanguard."