THE LEGACY NARRATIVES - VOL. I

1. Is vocation innate? Is it found? Is it built? Is it pursued? It is difficult for a vocation to be consciously built; nor is it something that is found without seeking it. I see it as an exchange with reality, until one comes to feel comfortable with what they aspire to, with what they have available, and with their energies acting in concert with the real.

2. How would you describe your work to someone who is unfamiliar with it? It is difficult to describe something visual with something written because images are constructed with reference images, and words also lead to images we have had. Then one would have to have visual references to Baroque art, Impressionist painting, and current photography. I work on my pieces using parts of these keys: the photography I work with, which represents a certain idea of objectivity; the aspiration of Impressionism to capture the moment and light; and the poses of the bodies in the Baroque style.

3. What does it mean to be an artist in the 21st century? To create in the complexity of our time. This is a moment in which air is sold as art, where speculation causes certain products to be sold at outrageous prices and their value is solely because of that. That is why it is difficult for artists who work with our skills to have enough peace of mind to work amidst all this noise.

4. Why did you choose your style? Is it necessary to differentiate oneself with one? One, in the interaction with reality, finds their way; in that way, one is always different from others, because they hold the brush differently or because they illuminate in a certain way. Logically, one has certain predilections and wants to resemble something, but they do not do it identically, but as they can and know how to do it. It is not something one chooses entirely; you do not choose to be born into a culture, you do not choose to have opportunities, they are either offered to you or they are not.

5. What are you trying to express in your paintings? I relate the most primitive thing to an anguish: that of living, the passage of time, and death. Based on this feeling, the apprehension of the moment, living reality and its retention in time and space as if it were a tribute, an altar, knowing and apprehending the person represented, in their case; each person gives me what they are.

6. What artists have influenced your work? In my youth, some high school teacher. During my studies, a painting I could see in a provincial museum by Aurelio Arteta, who seemed to me an excellent connoisseur and synthesizer of the body, or Gabriel Morcillo, whom I was able to see on a trip to Granada. Subsequently, I couldn't help but be impressed by Antonio López, Claudio Bravo, Edward Hopper, Velázquez. In any case, I have not had mythologized artists, but it was the works that impressed me, whoever they were by, because an impression must occur at a specific moment and circumstance.

7. What is the most difficult thing when painting? Having clear thoughts. In my practice, knowing what I want to do, not feeling pressure, and then I have the capabilities to do the most complicated work, since concentration is required in some aspects; it is an analytical job.

8. What is the most satisfying thing when painting? That the work flows. There is a manual aspect, like when one plays an instrument, and it is reaching that level of concentration where you do not realize that time is passing. I do not think it is even reaching a concrete achievement; finished paintings are already corpses, sometimes of a thought.

9. Why do people buy art? Why do people collect things? Or why do they keep books they have read? I do not think it is very different. There are basic ways of functioning: you can feel something again if you can reproduce what provoked it, and on the other hand, there is the possession of the object as something personal and private. I am convinced that very intellectualized explanations are not valid, although I would also buy art for the exclusivity of a product, which a copy or print does not provoke. Almost everything is related to sensitive perceptions, linked, on the other hand, to each of us, as our own experience.

10. What gives value to art? Trajectory, quality, theme, format, gallery, market? Of course, multiple factors, and none of them is totally objective. A cultural product probably only has value for those who know how to appreciate it and is also linked to their emotions. Personally, due to my involvement in the making of my work, I highly value the sensitive qualities of the pictorial matter, and also how appropriate it is in a given context. For me, the value that the rest of the world gives to any work of art or object is their business; I can only change my mind if they offer me convincing arguments.

11. Do you prefer your works to be in Museums or private Collections? Why? I would like my work to be in Museums or easily accessible places. Any cultural product should be freely accessible, as it does not belong to us, just as a language does not belong to one person or group, because before us, there has been someone who transmitted and taught it to us, and let's say they "invented" it for use. In small steps, with the passing of centuries and millennia, our societies are becoming more shared (and human).

12. Do artworks find a home, or do people find artworks? Since artworks do not have consciousness, I believe that people give meaning to the works.

13. Is transcendence an important theme for you? Why? Given that all of us who are conscious know that we are going to die and disappear (our self will disappear), and this is distressing because it breaks the meaning we give to our lives, I believe we all wish for what we create and experience to survive, just like children. Otherwise, what would be the meaning of the effort? I imagine we are talking about the transcendence of our works. We are a somewhat more transitory phenomenon, depositing in the works another transformed reality that resembles transcending.

14. What is the role of a Gallery? The first function is to reach a wider audience. The second, and no less important, is to collaborate in the sustenance of the artist, and perhaps, to share a common action and objectives external to these basic functions, such as producing thought and change.

15. What is your opinion on Auction Houses and Art Fairs? They are other formats for the exchange between art and collectors. Thinking, for example, about the ARCO Art Fair in Madrid, it causes me rejection, as it only serves the interests of a certain type of art and the business of a series of galleries. Certain power circles are created regarding the direction of the advertised art and the reception of public money, but this also happens with Art Centers. I don't have much of an opinion on auction houses because I haven't had contact with any, only that they are another channel of exchange, and that is not bad.

16. How to stand out in a globalized market? By being oneself, thinking about what one has close by. Only from our particularity and circumstances can we offer something different, or so I believe at first.

17. Should the artist's private life be kept private? Of course, or are we going to believe that the artist is a celebrity? I understand that the mythologization of an artist can serve to amplify their work, but I prefer that only what is related to their work be seen; that is what is important at a social level.

18. Is there anything you haven't been asked yet that you would like to share? Can one live without art? No, we live in art.

19. What is the most important thing in life for you? To feel, and to be conscious to the extent of my possibilities. During the years I worked in advertising, I felt like a slave, and I only wanted to feel the passing of days, the air on my face, and see the sky.

20. What could be the title of a book about your life? I have not considered having a written book, and even less a title, but if we were to imagine: "The child who started to dream and became an artist and a man at the same time."