#art, How do You Define Art? (Translation of article published today in Masticadores)

Art is an international language, and that is something that no one doubts or disputes. Painters, sculptors, musicians, poets, and all those involved in the «fine arts» use what we call «art» to express the philosophy that motivates them, their creativity, and the talent they have developed through effort. I say effort…read as hard work…because that is the only way to develop talent.

The artist who seeks communion with the spiritual clings to his time, his place, and his moment in history. Not only to the history of art, but especially he has to cling to the history that is being made moment by moment. It is the only way to make the work vibrate with true energy and convey its message. The artist’s message to the observer, and here I speak specifically of the painter, sometimes comes through the colours or through the shapes and figures… if he is a figurative artist… that he has captured on the canvas.

I am not an artist attached to a particular style or school. In fact, although I live the spirituality of my contemporaneity, I do not create installations, video art, or performances, which seem to…unfortunately…define today’s art. I do not like them and I do not work any of those three «things!. I am a lone wolf that has separated from that pack and follows his own path in figurative and abstract art. But for me art will remain within the realms of painting and sculpting. The wider definition of «the arts» encompasses the rest of the fine arts..

My college training was, like that of almost everyone in the 1980s, classical. You have to know the basics, color theory, the rules of composition, in short, all the rules that…academically…define art. When I finished my bachelor’s degree in fine arts, I decided to forget everything I was taught and start creating. I did it my way, and still do, through my unique style, surreal-expressionism. I also work on abstraction since the idea of the abstract intrigues me and the style allows me to have a different dialogue with the public. Moreover, this way I stick it to those critics who seek to interpret my work and perhaps pigeonhole me into a style.

But even though my works are surreal-expressionist, many of them have an intrinsic and inexorable rhythm, difficult to define and even more to ignore. These are based on the principles that define Jazz music, in other words, classic North American music. I call these paintings «JaZzArT».

In conclusion, I would say that drawing is the most accurate and boldest way to express artistic creativity. Throughout art history, I have admired many artists who were also great draftsmen and who have left us phenomenal drawings. Artists like M. C. Escher, Egon Schiele, Picasso, Dürer, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and many more. Matisse said that a drawing was a painting with fewer elements, perhaps because they don’t have paint. But, forgive me Henri, you’re wrong, or your statement is incomplete, it’s because drawing doesn’t follow the same path as a painting. Drawing uses the magic of the black line, which although it also works in paintings, in drawing ot stands out as an overwhelming force that gives it spirit

GREETINGS.