How did the idea for this exhibition come about?
I had my first exhibition in a renowned museum in Malaga and soon after somebody called me and suggested that I do an exhibition on Ibiza. When I saw the space of La Nave de Salinas I fell in love with it. And to exhibit in a room where well-known artists such as Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Bill Viola, Marco Brambilla or Kaws have shown their art, that’s quite something.
Were you impressed?
It was a challenge, filling a space of such dimensions is difficult. Being such a rationalist architecture where you overlook the entire space and you see the exhibition at a glance, everything has to be very well balanced since the overall impression is very important,.
Does it have a connecting thread?
It was an idea that emerged little by little. There is a painting in which the main element seems to be looking at you when you look at it. What seemed in a very subtle way to be a bather became a post-covid hope and a special light was sought. That’s how it all came about.
How did you title it?
I don’t like to put titles, but ‘El Bañista’ has been the guiding thread of the work and all the elements have to do with the beach, the clothing, the spaces, and so this title is the result of the development of the work.
What inspires you?
I like to evolve by drawing, inspiration always appears while I draw. Everything I see catches my attention, from a sunset to nature, the environment, reading or anything that passes in front of my eyes, and if later you are able to transmit this to the canvas, that’s what makes the painting vibrate. To be an artist or painter you have to say something. And being vivacious is important.
How would you define your art?
I like to take it more to realism, although people interpret it more as surrealism. I see it more realistic because there are characters that could live among us or in another world as a realism. They have features of a new expressionism.
Have you ever done ‘street art’?
Never. I have always painted on paper, canvas or sculpture.
Do you feel more like a draftsman than a painter? Which one predominates?
A great painter has to be a great draftsman, because one is not without the other, when you are able to bring the drawing to the canvas and give it the necessary expressionist strength to make it vibrate.
Has Covid affected the way you paint?
Yes, especially because there was no anxiety about having to paint in order to attend international fairs and other engagements.
