There are two very clearly defined forces in my work, on one hand I look back in time, tradition and art history and on the other I try to look as far ahead as I possibly can. These are two opposite forces that I try to bring together in my work. Depending on how you see them they might be opposite to each other, but in my case I struggle to bring them together, have them coexist and complement each other.
Tradition in art has played an important role in my work, taking me to favor the retro perspective theory that states that if an artist has a clear view and understanding of the past and tradition in art, he or she will have a more defined and clear path in front of him or her.
I have been obsessed with the idea of appropriating values of tradition and traditional art and presenting them in a contemporary way with a valid contemporary language in terms of both, concept and technique.
Since the early 2000’s I´ve done extensive formal research, experimenting with a variety of techniques using cutting edge technology that has defined my work. I want my work to have a process, a language and a concept that reflects the times we live in and use technology that in most cases was not available only a few years ago.
Portraiture has interested me since I was young and has been the main subject matter which I have been working with for the past 11 years. Portraits can be traced back throughout art history, from the early egyptians all the way to the birth of photography. The anachronic nature of portraiture is a characteristic that is not associated with current or cutting edge subject matter, but to tradition and history and is what links my work to the past.
My intention is to explore one of the most important aspects of portraiture which is not only to create an accurate representation of the sitter, but to explore and show its character and essence. For me, a portrait must explore the movements of the soul, meaning to make the psychological aspects visible beyond the external appearance. I also consider that a portrait can contain much more information and content than the apparent representation of the sitter. There can be layers of information and meaning under the surface which come to light when the observer confronts the work as he makes free associations between the elements that make up the work, technque, title, context as well as the sitter itself.
My work is constructed using a combination of techniques ranging from technology (computers, computer numerically controlled routers, laser cutters, vynil cutting plotters and video) to laborious traditional art techniques, like painting, collage, silk screen, printmaking and drawing.
In 2001 I started mixing oil based enamel into 100 shades of gray, from pure white ranging to pure black and all 98 shades of gray between them. Using a combination of computer numerically controlled machinery and traditional hand painted processes I paintakingly and meticulously create photographic quality portraits.
I have explored different ways of executing the portraits ranging from hand painted oil color to laser perforated stretched canvases.
This series of works have evolved from portraits of individuals to collective portraits in which I choose a group of people with some common interest or goal, take individual photographic images of them and then use to fuse and combine proportionally into one image. Due to the nature of the process the features of the individuals are combined so that they are not recognizable; this makes the final image a portrait of a nonexistent person.
The result of all this processes has become so rich and complex that I have started to film them, opening a door towards other platforms.
For the past two years I have been exploring an idea that has interested me for a long time. I have been trying to use the technology available for 3d renderings, modeling and animation as a tool to create art with a language associated with a gallery or museum. These tools have been available for a few years and have been used by the film industry and the architectural visualization industry among others. Artists have explored the internet and multimedia as new mediums of expression but have yet to discover, take advantage and use this amazing and powerful tool. The subject matter which I have tried to explore using these tools ironically is directly associated to the tools themselves and its the concept of space. Space has no boundaries or limits, its nature is three dimensional in which objects and events occur, which have a relative position and direction. I have tried to explore the limits of how we perceive space. Einstein, Gauss, Poincare and Kant have explored the formal definition of space from different perspectives ranging from purely scientific all the way to psychology, spirituality and religion. My recent body of work explores how the observer percieves space, how his or her mind reacts to its surroundings. The language most suitable to explore these concepts is geometry.
I work on these two bodies of work simultaneously. I consider that even though they are apparently different and opposite from one another they complement each other perfectly. One is clearly rooted in the past and the other in the future, characteristics which define the forces that drive my work.