Portfolio 2023 – mixed media

DRAWINGS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

MODERN JAPONISME #3 (san) / MODERN JAPONISME #5 (go) – Ink and watercolors on paper (A4)

I have always been fascinated by Japan, its culture and its delicate aesthetics. But just like the French were influenced by the culture of a place they never saw and therefore based their artistic inspiration on a fragmented knowledge in the nineteenth century, so is my fascination based on what the modern world gave me the opportunity to discover about the ancient and the modern Japanese culture and art, having the effect of stimulating a longing through something that is still unknown. These two works are part of a series, and I numbered them at the bottom left in Japanese
ideograms, kanji.

MY CREEPY LOVE (Pink & Blue) – Colored pencils and markers on paper(A4)

Original characters based on the feeling of being different.

SKETCHES (portraits and studies)

In the studies of portraits I do in my sketchbook, I try to capture what to me are the most important details as well as the sense of movement of my eyes when they see and study an image. Often I write down words or I sketch symbols that come to mind as I sketch the subject based on a photo. I like to use material that gives a feeling of three-dimensionality or/and which comes from everyday life without being too valuable.

I also do figure drawing when I get the chance, and in that case the process is a little different, because I try to reduce the freedom of the subjects movement to a few lines which can describe and characterize the situation I am studying. I use colors mostly to capture the emotions and he thoughts I experience then. I also use to sketch several times those statues that I saw in real life and which hit me specially, to try to put the feelings of my memories in them when I go back to study them after a while.

PAINTING

WILD (acrylic paint on canvas, 50 x 40 cm)

I have always been fascinated by indigenous peoples and their symbolic aesthetics.This work has been inspired specifically by the ancient Mayan people. A feeling of not belonging to modern western society standards, which creates a new concept of man’s
natural state, made me think about how a fantasy character who got tired of the modern society and longing after going back to the natural way of being human would look like. The title refers to the state that this character seeks, the return to being able to be
wild in a society that does not allow it. Triangles are alchemic symbols of elements. The different texture in the golden color is meant to symbolize the transformation process. Alchemy is an ancient branch of natural philosophy associated with mysticism that is rejected by today scientific communities and seemed to me the perfect type of knowledge for this fictional character to rebel against today’s extreme rationalism.

UGH (acrylic paint on canvas, 50 x 40 cm)

This painting is a depiction of a character in a fantasy universe where the classical Christian iconography is reversed to create an anti-icon. The halo around the head surrounds a monkey skull, while the character is a kind of monster with protruding and sharp teeth like a vampire, the mouth contracting in a grimace of pain and where an unidentified black liquid is dripping. The elongated ears resemble those of an elf. With his left hand he holds his right arm right under a deep wound, the cause of the pain. The comic balloon is there to reinforce the idea that the character is fictional. The nipples are censored by two black upside-down crosses, while the triangle with one eye in it, the symbol of God, appears on the left side of the painting with some abstract shapes. The figure, in the lower part, dissolves in the black background.

MAKING LOVE (acrylic paint on canvas, 40 x 30 cm)

This painting exemplifies the symbolic connection between humans and nature. I decided to use an almost monochromatic palette in shades of yellow, green and brown to emphasize the sense of unity. The title refers to the romantic way people connect intimately between each other, and here it is used mostly metaphorically to indicate the kind of connection that can be found by immersing oneself in nature. A figure hugs a tree and is
absorbed by it, and becomes one with it.

DO IT/don’t do it (acrylic paint on canvas, 27 x 22 cm)

This painting is about mental health, one of the most important concerns for art, when it comes to my personal path. The right hand has a bleeding bandage on it and it hangs passively at the center of the painting. The left hand reaches out and grabs it. The title refers to the two opposite thoughts of a person who self-harms or eventually thinks about taking her/his own life: “do it, don’t do it”. It also represents the opposite thoughts of the person suffering (“do it”) and of someone who cares about her/him (“don’t do it”), represented by the two different ones hands. Orange is the color of the self-harm awareness ribbon, and that’s why it is the dominant color Ihere.

DOUBLE (acrylic paint on fibreboard, 118 x 25 cm)

This work was stimulated by the curiosity to use some waste material from a construction site. Both the format and the surface of the plate were new to me. I decided to use the plate’s verticality to depict a double motif so that the work could be seen in two directions, and in any case requiring the viewer to turn and look upside down. While one part emphasizes the identity of the person, represented by including facial features and using a strong green
for the eyes that contrasts with the gray tones of the body, the other is more anonymous. If one looks at the two parts carefully, and he or she ideally places them next to each other, one can understand that there is only one image of the subject that is split in half and flipped.