What did you want to be when you were a child?
Palaeontologist and studying Dinosaurs.
Have the stories you read as a child influenced you in your pictorial imagination? And the books of your mother, the writer Beatriz García-Huidobro?
Some stories really appealed to me
But I was more influenced by illustrations, especially those of Perrault's "tales of yesteryear", illustrated by Gustave Dor. Those illustrations were fundamental to my whole future imagination.
My mother has been a fundamental support in my education, but above all because I saw her painting (it was her hobby when I was a child), and that attracted my attention a lot. attention and I started to do that too. She always showed me a lot of art books and I devoured them.
After studying for a year at university you decided to go to Norway, why Norway, and why with the painter Odd Nerdrum, what did you learn or unlearn from him?
I went to Norway simply because Odd lived there, if it had been another country I would have moved there. When I saw his painting for the first time in a magazine, I was fascinated and thought that he could take disciples like in the old school. I wasn't wrong and he was, so I was fortunate to be able to learn from him for a while. I think the most important lesson in my stay with Odd was to understand deeply his personal commitment to his art and how to find that spirit in oneself to develop one's own work.
What inspires you in addition to the above?
Lots and lots of images from great artists of history, lots of things from the endless repertoire of nature, films, illustrations, all sorts of images that I come across in different places. Sometimes I come across some that evoke a feeling that is hard to describe, perhaps something similar to what we associate with the "magic" of childhood. On the other hand, there are many other sensations in which words are not an adequate channel to express myself and hence the need for images.
What is your work process like?
I have multiple references of images that have caught my attention classified. I review them and
help me to come up with ideas.
There I sketch and plan the production of reference photos to assemble the composition that will be the model for my painting. From then on, the painting process is not very different from how it was done 400 years ago.
You are compared to greats such as Rembrandt, Velázquez, Rubens or Caravaggio. How do you see yourself and how would you like to be seen?
I am more than grateful for such comparisons. In relation to how I see myself, I'm not sure, the image one has of oneself tends to be quite distorted by many factors. I am aware that I have achieved many of the goals I set for myself when I was younger. and when to stop and observe calmly, that suits me very well.
Regarding the question of how I would like to be seen, I hope to be seen as someone who is authentic in relation to his art, and indeed I feel that this is the case.
Silly question: Why do you choose such large formats?
The composition I plan beforehand is dictated by the format, I like to keep the proportions close to the natural scale and many compositions require a large format.
Inevitable question: What are you up to now, any new projects?
I am in the process of closing future exhibitions and in a fruitful creative period, putting together various compositions and developing ideas.
Gossip question: Which artist would you like to have dinner with and why (dead or alive)?
Rubens, I would have loved to know first hand his way of looking at life, as I find his way of looking at life very interesting. As far as I know, he was a very disciplined, charismatic, passionate and cultured person (you can see it in his paintings), but it is also known who was very sociable, in fact he was assigned to diplomatic missions.
All this while running a workshop with many assistants and dealing with all sorts of courtiers, it seems to me. remarkable his ability but especially the content of his works, it would be nice to talk to him.
He asks without thinking: Who are these girls and why do so many of them stare at me?
I think they are a part of my self that manifests itself in this form, they are a kind of ancient, deep and very valuable spirit, perhaps the embodiment of a kind of soul.
Detail question: In the painting of The Healer, the one of the gorilla there is an apple falling and in the painting of "The Enccounter" the girl steps on two human heads and one is your self-portrait. Do these details have any explanation?
The healer is called the first one and I think the apple is there to show the restlessness of the gorilla, who is throwing things off the table he is sitting at. In the case of the heads, there is a lot for the spectator to interpret in their own way, the story is not closed by me.
In that painting anyway I think there is an erotic play between the character of the girl over the heads, some kind of domination.
In your "Splendour in the Night" works there are almost always animals, but they are more than still lifelike and have a dreamlike touch. How much of life and death is there in your works?
I try to balance them but I prefer to think that there is a little more life, even if it is very little.
Sex, blood, fog, surrealism, dreams, childhood, power, beauty... Which word represents you the most? (Add or subtract as you wish)..
TENDERNESS, VIOLENCE, PLAY, EROTICISM, COMPASSION, BEAUTY, DEATH, MAGIC AND MYSTERY.
Day or night, nature or humanity, love or terror, violence or tenderness, interior or exterior? You clearly like duality, but do you like balance or do you find it boring for art or life?
I see the balance in the works as something apparently randomly intermingled that seeks in some way to equalise different forces that contrast with each other. Duality attracts my attention more than balance in itself. When it comes to my personal life, I do find balance important and I try to practice it despite my weaknesses.
Speaking of duality, is the future of art digital or will physical art always be more important?
I think they will coexist just as we do now with other fields. Digital has a lot of room for growth as long as immersive experiences are improving, we will have to see what happens with that, maybe in the future we won't be able to distinguish one from the other.
In your case it seems that the rule of the tormented artist who is only valued after his death is broken, do you think there has been a change in this aspect?
I think most of the recognised artists were recognised during their lifetime, especially if you look at those before the 19th century. It happens that there have been some tragic stories that have attracted a lot of attention and we are left with these stereotypes.
Now, I don't know if I'm saved from the tormented part.
What would you change about the art world?
The focus of what is communicated about art to the world is too much associated with money, record prices and such things, and too little with reflection and other variables, it would be good to have more of a counterbalance.
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