Artist Statement

artist photo

 

 While studying design in my native Chile in the 1970s, I became interested in the rock art done in my own country. I was encouraged to do further traveling research by Hans Niemeyer, a renowned archeologist. I also traveled to Spain to study the caves of Altamira in the Basque country, which being the home of my paternal ancestors connected me to my roots.

My former work springs from this research and exploration, and concerns my connection to an ancient past.

My current paintings series originated from my method of gestural painting: using spontaneous brush strokes, to evoke a primal mode of communication. I do these paintings from a gestalt conception, connecting with the present time or the here and now. In that way, I am able to create from my feelings more than my intellectual-thoughts.

During the creation of my most recent paintings, I have been inspired by classical music by Czech composers Antonin Dvorak (Symphony From the New World) and Bedrich Smetana (My Fatherland symphonic poems.) Along the way, I wanted and needed inspiration by Chilean classical music. Then, I started to be inspired among them by the renowned composers Juan Orrego-Salas, Enrique Soro, Eulogio Dávalos, Sylvia Soublette. Jorge Urrutia, and René Amengual.

Doing these painting I feel that I am developing my own new magical codes as part of an experience of inner communication. The images I get are a universal yet mysterious writing that directs me to my collective unconscious and reminds me that I have existed since time immemorial.