Elvis Painting

Fabian Carreno was born in Havana, Cuba in 1982. From a very early age he showed his talents and passion for the arts. His first portrait was a profile of his grandfather while he sat in a rocking chair watching TV. Fabian sketched it using an HB school pencil on a small notebook page. He was around 7 years old.  Never seeking out conventional schooling, Fabian continued to draw more as a hobby than a thought-out career path. With long periods of inactivity at a time, he would eventually always find himself drawing again as a form of self therapy or out of spontaneous creative waves. He would draw on a small piece of paper or on a 6 foot tall canvas pinned on a wall. Once finished, sooner or later, it would find itself in the trash. “My art is the one thing I have never, not once, overthought about in my life; or at all actually. It comes because it does, and I just draw. It’s very liberating and instinctive. It is honest to the moment.” Fabian has always been fascinated by the human emotion. Hence, his obsession with portraits. “The human face is the most expressive thing on earth. It’s fascinating. From a single look at someone’s face you can tell a story; feel emotions and connect. It can be a very personal and intimate experience.”  Fabian translates the human expression into a color palette of his choosing to externalize his very own interaction with it. Often using bright and absurd color tones, his pieces never fail to draw the eye and trap viewers for a instant of intimacy. “I've always been intrigued by color and the effect it has on our emotions. When I look at a scene, or a still picture, it translates into certain colors in my head; especially if it connects with me somehow. I try not to rationalize it. I completely ignore the actual colors I'm looking at, if it has any, and I'm compelled to recreate it with a palette of my own. What I love most about this process is to let all these different colors flow and merge into layers to start revealing a very visceral and personal version of something that is real. It's almost a surreal experience for me as I surprise myself seeing it take on a life on it's own."