(Relaxing in Gandía, Comunitat Valenciana/All Rights Reserved)
I am Bodo Vespaciano, an experienced painter and writer. For me, all art is poetry, whether it’s on canvas, through music, or in words. Art without poetry is not real art.
Art is a creative process. The product is never something real. Artists make things up because art is contrived. Konstantin Stanislavsky, the great theatre director and creator of «the method» said that raw emotion is not art. I believe in this idea and it has become my approach to creating art.
I invite you to my YouTube channel, my Instagram, and my Twitter, and of course, to VALENCIARTIST. Here, I post daily about art, artists, music, poetry (usually my poetry and my Euro-Ku), and current events. Please be aware that I always express my opinions freely on any subject. I am a free thinker, democratically oriented, and totally against totalitarianism, socialism, communism, and any other ideology that denies God, enslaves humanity, and destroys our ideal to live in freedom. However, I accept all opinions as long as they are expressed in a civilized manner and do not denigrate or offend.
Instagram: @Francisco_Bravo_Cabrera
Twitter: @Euskadi_Bakero
Here is my latest YouTube video. Let me know what you think.
(Original Art Digital «Water» by Francisco Bravo Cabrera/All Rights Reserved)
AND THEN THERE’S WATER
Is it sad to go looking through the ashes? The fires of passion once were crystal clear and pure with dancing flames that consumed us but strengthened us. Heat that paced the rhythm of our hearts; annihilated the oxygen in the air. It left behind just dust…
What could we ever hope to find?
I never kept my word. Bad, late and never I repaid you. And I never wrote you a love song, never will…
Which god denied us happiness? Was it the one who stole our innocence and plundered our wonder? Was it because we climbed his Tree and satisfied our hunger with its tiny fruits? We just wanted to taste them, discover their flavour, bite through their skin and let their juices moisten the silken robes that we slept in…
And then there’s water… Water puts out fires. And the years? They whiten the sunburn of a summer’s love…
It’s me that now, with sweat-stained fingers, that winds the clock.
It’s not our fault.
We’re broken and every day more and more pieces of us fall carelessly to the dust.
Tears are not enough. Nowadays they’re greatly overvalued. They’re not worth what they were worth before, yet, some still proclaim they are.
It’s now just you. Sometimes just me. No trace of us.
We aren’t innocent, but we aren’t guilty. What destroyed us was an act of God…
C.2023, Francisco Bravo Cabrera, 28 JUL 2023, Valencia, España (As I listen to “Goodbye Porkpie Hat” by Charles Mingus)
(Obra original de Francisco Bravo Cabrera/Derechos Reservados – Original work by Francisco Bravo Cabrera/All Rights Reserved)
You want to study art? At a university? But at uni professors don’t know anything about how to be an artist, it’s all academic there…
Are you going to be taught how to make art or glorify those who dedicate themselves to video, performance and installation (VIP)? They’re going to drill into your head that Warhol was a genius, that Jeff Koons is the Wizard of Oz, and that Damien Hirst is bang on perfect…
Go ahead, study, but keep in mind that university education is a waste of time. Ask Lennon and McCartney and they’ll tell you that the only way to learn is on the fly. The university is only good for you to end up, after being bestowed with that bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate, facing life with no clue how to fit in and wind up getting depressed. And once you’re beaten, defeated and wasted, you’ll start…without even realising it…your career as a failed artist.
You’ll say that the art world is a fraud, a piece of shit, and that you’ll only be recognized when you’re dead. After all the only famous artists are the dead ones. You’re right. Keep going like that, failure is your goal and you’ll get there. Walk around dressed like a ragpicker…a starving artist… and constantly talk about Van Gogh, Warhol, and Dalí. Remind everyone who approaches you… if anyone does… that those were tormented artists and that only Dalí lived well because he came from a wealthy family. Go to all the vernissages and gallery openings and tell everybody you’ve got shows lined up in Ulan Bator, Upper Volta, and Oshkosh and that Jeff Koons thinks you’re smashing good…
Next step on your road to being a failed artist is to become addicted to drugs and to become a drunk because that way you won’t be able to paint, sculpt, or do anything. So don’t paint, don’t read about art, don’t worry about composition, perspective, colour theory or even knowing who the hell was Michelangelo. And if someone sees one of your few paintings and tells you how poorly it is painted, tell them that art has no rules and that you can do whatever you want. Or just tell them that they don’t have the sensitivity to recognise the sufferings of a tormented artist. That’s how you’ll be a great failure. After all that’s what you’ve set out to do…
And well, I haven’t seen much of life or ventured much out of my cave, except for that one summer afternoon when I was taken to see the King and Queen in the streets of Mallorca…
Y ahora para aquellos que entendéis el castellano, aquí os dejo el vídeo que inspiro todo lo que en inglés he escrito.
(Foto propiedad de Francisco Bravo Cabrera/Derechos Reservados-Photo property of Francisco Bravo Cabrera/All Rights Reserved)
Los colores por sí mismos son arte, pero hay que saber usarlos, aunque no necesariamente hay que regirse por las normas y preceptos tradicionales, pero si utilizarlos para crear, desarrollar ideas y mas… Para mi, el dibujo en blanco y negro es un cuadro con menos colores, pero un cuadro a todo color es un cuadro que brilla por su complejidad y por estar en un estado de perfección completa. Aquí os brindo algunos de los viejos y uno de los nuevos que demuestra lo que siento por los colores….
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Colours themselves are art, but you have to know how to use them skilfully, although you don’t necessarily have to adhere to traditional rules and precepts, you would do good to use them to create and develop ideas and more… For me, my black and white drawings are paintings with fewer colours, but a full-color picture is one that shines with complexity and in a state of complete perfection. Here I present some of the old ones and one of the new ones that shows what I feel about colours.
(Las imágenes son propiedad de Francisco Bravo Cabrera/Derechos Reservados – Images are all property of Francisco Bravo Cabrera/All Rights Reserved)
(«Jazz Lux» imagen propiedad de Francisco Bravo Cabrera/Image property of Francisco Bravo Cabrera)
El momento aquel cuando decidí que mi trabajo artístico seria «Jazz-Art» fue una epifanía, pero no recuerdo exactamente cuando fue. Lo que si recuerdo fue cuando cambié la forma de escribirlo. Fue durante la pandemia (2020) estando confinado y solo comunicándome con seguidores, amigos, galeristas, fans etcetera, cuando escribí jazz art así: «JaZzArT» y como me gustó así lo dejé.
Pero bueno, la motivación, lo que me provocó a dirigir mi camino hacia el JaZzArT fue el Jazz. Simple, y llanamente siempre he sido un amante de la música. Primero los Beatles y los Rolling, después Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, y casi todos las otras bandas de esa época y después el Jazz. Y lo que más me fascinó del jazz fue la manera como se hace, como se toca, como se desarrolla.
Pues el Jazz (como forma musical) se ajusta a tres principios fundamentales que son:
1- la improvisación; 2- La maestría del solista que toca y compone simultáneamente; 3- el ritmo, el swing que tiene que tener la pieza.
Los tres los convertí en la base de mi trabajo pictórico. Claro, tuve que hacer algunos ajustes pero creo que a través de los años los he logrado entrometer en mis cuadros y lograr así la espontaneidad y la frescura de la improvisación sin alejarme mucho de la planificación.
Dime tu si lo notas en mis cuadros.
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The moment when I decided that my artistic work would be «Jazz-Art» was an epiphany, but I don’t remember exactly when it was. What I do remember is when I changed the way to write it. It was during the pandemic (2020) while being confined and only communicating with followers, friends, gallery owners, fans, etc., when I wrote jazz art like this: «JaZzArT» and since I liked it, I kept it that way.
But well, the motivation, what led me to steer my path towards JaZzArT was Jazz. Simply put, I have always been a lover of music. First the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, then Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and almost all the other bands of that era, and then Jazz. And what fascinated me the most about jazz was the way it is made, how it is played, how it unfolds.
Well, Jazz (as a musical form) adheres to three fundamental principles, which are:
1- Improvisation; 2- The mastery of the soloist who plays and composes simultaneously; 3- The rhythm, the swing that the piece must have.
I turned the three of them into the foundation of my pictorial work. Of course, I had to make some adjustments, but I believe that over the years I have managed to integrate them into my paintings and thus achieve the spontaneity and freshness of improvisation without straying too far from the planning.
Now I ask you, do you see these Jazz principles in my work?
(Image property of Francisco Bravo Cabrera/All Rights Reserved)
«Red Dress Jazz,» that you see here, is in its canvas print form. It is now available at Fine Art America through my gallery. This is the only company that I have trusted with my images to create fine art prints of high quality. Fine Art America handles the entire transaction and ships quickly. Check out my gallery often as I change the images frequently to keep things exclusive and fresh.
(«Bosques» Francisco Bravo Cabrera/All Rights Reserved)
BIJOUTERIE (Begun on 19 AUG 2023, listening to The Crimson Jazz Trio)
Have you the power to defeat your destiny? Your ego’s still trapped in temples and your truths still fear the truth. When thorny lips filled with emptiness glide by your face, upon touching you they vanish seeking glory after having touched you.
Don’t go thinking you’re so wise ‘cause children never catch your lies. Don’t go begging God for light, for the most horrific fire that gives off the brightest light can burn out in an instant.
You can’t ride off into the sunset on a horse of silver white ‘cause your horse ain’t used to trotting over nothing but asphalt. So you’ll always be a charlatan at the tent of fortune tellers in the shabbiest of carnivals I’m betting.
Gold that glitters yellow, bright, chilling beers to cool the nights on the hottest days of August… And the nipples of your melon breasts resemble candy kisses while a spy sells her bijouterie to men who listen…
(«Dora» obra original de FBC/Derechos Reservados – «Dora» original work by FBC/All Rights Reserved)
A veces hay que dejar que la imaginación se haga cargo de la producción y uno se sienta ahí, tranquilo, y observa. Luego puede reírse a carcajadas uno o joderse…
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Sometimes one has to let one’s imagination take over production and one can just sit back, relax and watch. Afterwards one can laugh out loud or not…
(«Tiki-Taka»/Derechos Reservados/All Rights Reserved)(«His & Her» Derechos Reservados/All Rights Reserved(Tina & Tino» Derechos Reservados/All Rights Reserved)(Obras originales de Francisco Bravo Cabrera/Derechos Reservados – Original works by Francisco Bravo Cabrera/All Rights Reserved)
Hacer un retrato siempre es hacer un estudio de la persona que se va a retratar. Yo a veces…como aquí lo veis…hago retratos de gente imaginaria, pero resultan ser muy reales…
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Making a portrait implies doing a thorough study of the person you are going to do the portrait of. I, at times…as you see here…make portraits of imaginary people, although they always turn out to be quite real…
OMNIA CAELUM STUDIOS VALENCIA PRESENTS:
One of the best portrait painters in Art History, Lucien Freud…
(«Luz de flor»/original de Francisco Bravo Cabrera/Derechos Reservados – «Flower Light»/original by Francisco Bravo Cabrera/All Rights Reserved)
Hay una cita (a mi personalmente no me consta, pero…) de Picasso que dice que cuando le preguntaron, «¿Que es el arte?» el maestro respondió que no sabia y que si lo supiera no se lo diría a nadie… Como he dicho, a mi no me consta que Picasso haya dicho esto, pero quizá. Picasso si dijo, y esto está en el libro de Françoise Gillot, que el arte era subterfugio y más o menos eso puede avalar el dicho, no lo se… Pero yo si os voy a contestar a la pregunta. El arte es subterfugio, Picasso tenía razón, pero el arte es la búsqueda. El arte se logra con talento y el talento se pilla buscándolo en la faena, la ardua y pesada faena…
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There is a quote (which I personally cannot confirm, but…) attributed to Picasso that says when asked, «What is art?» the master replied that he didn’t know and that if he did, he wouldn’t tell anyone… As I mentioned, I cannot confirm that Picasso actually said this, but perhaps he did. Picasso did say, and this is in Françoise Gillot’s book, that art is subterfuge (cunning), and that more or less supports the saying, I don’t know… But I will answer the question for you. Art is subterfuge, Picasso was right, but art is also the pursuit, the search. Art is achieved with talent, and talent is acquired through diligent and arduous work…
(Obra original de Francisco Bravo Cabrera/Derechos Reservados – Original work by Francisco Bravo Cabrera/All Rights Reserved)
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