"Red and black" Fine Art Print

I was born in 1957 in Madrid, Spain. I am artist and head teacher of the department of Arts at a Spanish Institution of Secondary Education. I have also worked with engraving, illustration, and ceramics. My works are surrealism influenced, being painted poetry. Thus, I paint thoughts, ideas, feelings and emotions. My inspiration steems from real life and my inner self. I have worked with all techniques: watercolour, Indian ink, gouache, collage, etc. Currently I work with oil.

THOUGHTS: ARTIST STATEMENT

In every work of art there is a conscious element, but also an unconscious element; if this were not the case, it would become nothing more than an illustration. Illustrations are direct, clear, immediate, and perhaps it is because of these characteristics it immediately produces a certain weariness, boredom... a quick page turn to "consume" the next image. In a work of art there ought to be a "hidden" aspect to it, something that escapes us, but manages to somehow connect with our unconscious. This stream does not happen rationally, but through sensation. It should create a connection between the uniqueness of the artist and the unconscious. Something ancient, deep... something that we all have inside of us that makes us tick.

Painting is a form of communication that is very different from the spoken word, we absorb it in another way due to the strong sensory component of art. Rather than reason and thinking, it appeals to the feelings, first through the senses, through the pores of the skin. It communicates in a very different way to words, using other channels that are more akin to music; it should be ensnare us, captivate us. If you were to streamline this process, it loses its sensory aspect and in someways this painting is "dead". Therefore, in order to paint such a painting, it is necessary to draw on different areas of the brain, antagonistic and opposing areas, allowing that unconscious power that we all have inside of us.

What do I reflect on whilst I work on a painting?
I follow two seemingly different lines which I alternate. Whilst using the first method I paint what could be defined as paintings with more depth, with a starting point in everyday life, with one foot in reality; something specific with meaning that happens to me either internally or externally. In the second method I create what I call "peaceful paintings", more sensual and organic, that flow through other paths, other parameters that are... "free".