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And how about literature? When did that start to influence your work?
Actually, it was in the pigs and markets series of paintings, “Pig-me, and the pink world of consumption”, I wanted to have, not only my personal perspective of issues that I had as a gay Mexican artist, but also as an individual living in a social environment. So I said to this psychologist friend of mine, “You know, I’m doing these paintings about sexuality and about my experience as a gay. What would you recommend me to read to have fresh insights?” She suggested I read Michel Foucault, who writes about the relationship between power and knowledge, and how they are used by institutions as a form of social control. I was really amazed at how he explains a lot of social concepts we accept, but hardly question how they evolved.
Foucault inspired me to delve into other philosophies and concepts in my own creative process, adding depth to my approach to imagery and symbolism. Reading is very different from just referencing photographs or other visuals. It opens your imagination to acquire all kinds of concepts and possibilities. Another strong influence, in 2009, was this other book “At the edge of the water”, from Agustín Yañez, which introduced a lot of fresh ideas to me.
And that’s also why also I started to investigate the movies from the seventies I watched as a child. Now as an adult I see them in a new perspective. There’s always this social and cultural dimension of a different society and timeframe but with traces that resonate with our own culture and time.
Could we now go into some technical things like your painter lead technique, the types of materials you prefer to use and that sort of thing.
Well, my foundation is drawing. There is a misconception about drawing—that it’s a lower art. Rather, to me, it’s the most generous medium, because it’s the most direct way to visualize ideas. I love to draw and make a lot of sketches around not only the paintings, but also playing around with ideas from the movies and books.
And after that, I love painting. I mean, it’s a cliché, but I really enjoy the language of painting which I didn’t understand until maybe three or four years ago. You could say that the first 10 years of my work were preparatory.
Establishing the foundation?
Yes, the foundation. You must understand the language of painting to see the difference between painting and, for example, a photograph or drawing, and to realize the possibilities. If you don’t, the painting becomes another object. In any representation understand that the colors have their own personality and, even if you are a figurative artist or a figurative painter, you are talking with colors. The visual experience is sensual and evocative, but not logical. And a lot of it has to do with how you mix them, how you apply them on canvas, and how you interact with them.
That’s why I love not only applying the paint, but also ripping it out or having these very small brushes or textures that gives you various striations with that color, like a very small presence in the canvas that can evolve to anything. Also, I love how the original drawing shows at the end of the painting – which is more honest. You can understand the construction process. That’s why I love to make these kinds of decisions not only on the canvass but also with the wallpaper I’m working on. The possibility with wallpaper is amazing because there are two dimensional paintings that they are now interlocking and adding a new dimension to the painting itself.
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