Artists statement... As an artist of my time and as a student I use different materials and media and in pursuit of technique I am developing a working method into something of my own. I use ready colours as well as pigment or mix them myself on architect paper to get rid of extra oil which I add as needed, in the manner of a Monet. I love drawing with pencil and oil is my favourite medium. Mankind is one of my first qualms and I like telling stories and ignite thoughts in my paintings. My inspiration comes from anything anytime; and casually from the simplest things of the day to day as well as media or Literature. The world is how we see it! Many of a time is but how I paint it. And here I explore other aspects, bringing them to light – exposing the unseen. Photography is a new Passion to me, a new Medium that I like very much a well as a useful tool. Some of my photographic works may resemble paintings... I am working on old projects as well as new. In my plans for the future I intend to turn my work more experimental on one side as more accurate on the other, as well as paint outdoors, before the Nature more nudes and explore more classic themes. And I also have it in mind to paint in bigger formats. The tendency polarizes between realism and abstract. | | Philosophy... How do I see myself and things... If I were to compare my work with anything, and it is like anything really, I would say painting is like fishing. O fishing… how long? I know it is strange. Watching those people go fishing, and then they just sit there for hours alone with nature. The river flows, you wave them good bye, and they wave you back, and we think how crazy they are. Something tells you they are still going to be there long after you are gone. Art for me is not always necessarily a mimesis. In trying to imitate Nature, we are looking for perfection. Or maybe it is just a way artists found to acknowledge the sublime in God’s Work; a means to pay Him tribute, for the fields and forests, the oceans and the sky, all those beautiful animals and us human beings. As an autodidact, and paraphrasing a professor of mine I am condemned to be an eternal student. But I think it is OK to have a pause sometimes. A space we need to be creative and make our experiments: to try this or that colour or material. It is when I distance myself from the object, abstract shapes and things, when I get subjective, that I in did get the feeling of doing my thing. God may have done the same, before He did all that. I am very sensible to critics. Some people will tell me my paintings are unpleasant, dreadful and they'll wonder what do I mean just by that? Good question. I am aware and that is how I improve and I do worry about lots of other things at work, there is this interior conflict, voices, and there is always music in the air... noise if you will. And the idea is not to frighten people; on the contrary my work results in a catharsis. Paradoxically however, I find it amusing that people can still find my colours beautiful, or some pleasant flowers among my works. I try not to pay much attention to those things, though, but they are there. And anyway I think there should be a balance somehow. One side of us would like to please the public; the other side wants to be authentic – which is going to win? When we know we cannot please neither Greeks, nor Trojans... I struggle not to give up of the idea, not easy though, there is black, and there is white. There is red. There is freedom, there is responsibility and there are colours. There are shadows and there is light. And there is always art! More and more, art is a matter of taste – we like it or we do not. Like when we are fishing, we think we are privileged. We are doing something. And all those questions to be answered. And who wants them answered? Do you? Is it going to rain? Fishermen are intellectuals, just like Cézanne. It is them and Nature alone! And all those million of questions... Is it going to bite? Hopefully there will be an apple somewhere on the way back. Important is the idea. And when I am painting I try to see the truth through the many facets of a diamond. No matter what the motive is - a flower, a mask, a chair… And everything we see, are images of the same truth, with different perspectives. Nothing is invented, really. Sometimes is like writing for a newspaper, you stick to the facts. Sometimes in a diegesis, you are telling a story. It is all in the diamond or am I lying? Then in this case In Service of the Truth! And sometimes yes, the truth is overwhelming and you agree you were wrong or you have not learned anything. And you try to repair the wrong you did. You knew it was not on with the river stormy like that. And you come back home as small as one of your worms. Guess who is going to be there next day when you are back? And the weather is not any better than yesterday… Those who go fishing, play a song or repair a shoe, they are all real artists. That is what art is all about. I wish anybody could do something like that. Not only for themselves. Someone else might as well like it... Essential is (absolutely!) not to give up love! Go fishing! I know it is going to rain. But let me tell you it is worth a try. I hope my work can inspire people somehow, make them happy or just make them wonder... mjf | | ars longa, vita brevis The reason why a painter paints does not differ from the one of a priest's that prays or of the one of a soldier's. I would tell you rather he does paint because he has no other choice. Taking what one thinks of Art is what matters, I can spare you my opinion, it is not really that important. What I can tell you, is that Mankind is one of my first qualms. The Universal Man with all his virtues error contentment and anxieties, even in his absence. As a person and as a human being and with everything that goes with it, whether that is a chair a dog a naked doll or a snake. Nothing new though. What I mean is that I could no longer figure life without the warmth of all those small animals plants people and little things that surround us. Things that make us happy and smile, animals and people that remind us we are not alone. The small little things signs or symbols that ignite one's thoughts. Do you not agree?... There are a lot of Renaissances out there, and the most (scaring) of things that never quite really died. Take for instance the positive ever growing west sensibility for nature and the recent respect we once witnessed in African American and Australian ancient cultures echoed by Asiatic Art (e.g. paintings) that show a tremendous consciousness for the preciosity of the Eden Garden. And that just reflects one of the challenges artists of our times face, and one of my inspiring sources. And that is how the habits values and signs of our times will be preserved and transmitted to the future generations. Literature and Music play a great roll in my work. The Bible remains number one and I guess all artists are aware of its importance at least concerning The west or Tradition west influenced cultures. I salute my colleagues for their difference. As for me, I will try not to do too much of the same but a lot of something else. Yeah! I believe that it is in trying to reinvent yourself or being open and innovative that you in fact are sculpting your own way in other words, doing nothing but being yourself. Life is ephemeral; let us try making it longer… Enjoy your time being! mjf |
