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Javier’s work is a lyrical poem in its aesthetic plenitude. In his work each composition is shaped from the gesture and the desire to explore human nature with the purest emotional plastic. The appearance of `dead nature´ but brimming with life, his pieces show human passions, feelings and vital reflections, contorted in the midst of landscapes harmonies Javier Ruiz (Jaén, 1989) studies, learning and years of searching are left behind to talk about this young painter who feeds on contemporaneity to generate a vital reflection. His work is characterized by showing from the figurative scenography of his compositions and the expressive force of his painting, human behavior and internal drives that plague our existence. His romantic and decadent atmospheres allow us to approach the most lascivious human instincts, works of addictive character that are mitigated thanks to nature as regent in each of his compositions.
Hi Javier, It’s a pleasure to sit down with you. First question. What does a regular day look like for you?
Very routine really. I have recently rented a huge studio in La Carolina, Jaen, in the south of Spain. I spend a lot of time in the studio, which is also my home, and when I’m not there, it’s because I’m doing sports.
In the villages these things happen, there is not much to do on a day-to-day basis, but it is something that helps me to have stability and to concentrate on my work.
How has your technique developed over time?
I imagine that like any artist. You start out committing technical aberrations by incomprehensibly mixing materials and, over time, you end up putting your head together and delving deeper into what you feel is your home.
What was the inspiration behind your work painting different compositions of flowers?
In a totally organic way. You find ideas and inspiration when you are continuously connected to your work and to a way of doing. Everything is an evolution of something previous. It is not born overnight as if, by chance, one day you find some stairs that lead you to touch the sky.
How did your painting journey begin?
You cross a street without looking and suddenly a truck runs over you. It’s something I didn’t expect at all.
I always wanted to do something completely different. Something related to sports. On the other hand, my mother, intelligent as she was, always tried to get me to draw, but it wasn’t until my youth that I started it, wrapped up in endless and sterile hours of high school. Then I understood that I had found “something”, so I decided to go ahead.
How do you think your background / family affected your painting today?
My family has never been an example of regularity and stability. This way of living that we have had has made me see life in a different way to the people I have had around me and this obviously has repercussions in my work. I can’t say in what way or how, but it affects both directly and indirectly.
How do you achieve the texture of thick paint in your works?
My work is plastic and I create the process from scratch, I create the pigments myself, I make my own oil. More pigment, less oil, that’s how my painting is made, from the painting and for the painting ☺
You portray the human body in its most vulnerable form, in different positions all showcasing different emotions. How do you decide on what emotion corresponds to which figure/position of the body?
There are two stages: Creation and denouement, and in neither of them do I choose anything, or at least not consciously.
In the first, I come across photographs of any kind and origin, something attracts me to them, I can’t say the reason but I like to think that they are the ones that choose me. In the second, it is you, as a spectator, who gives meaning and emotion to “that” you have in front of you.
What is your biggest artistic inspiration?
Reading and writing are my inspiration, depending on the day you ask me, sometimes it’s the writing of others and sometimes it’s my reflections.
What do you feel about the juxtaposition of life and death in nature? How do you think that affects your practice?
That it is necessary and beautiful. I find beauty in intensity, and I believe that true intensity emerges when we are either very much alive or completely sunk.
You portray the human body in its most vulnerable form, in different positions all showcasing different emotions. How do you decide on what emotion corresponds to which figure/position of the body?
I find it much more interesting to have the person who looks at my work answer this. what do you think? ☺
If you could paint one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be
None. I would rather find motivation in something else; I would feel that I have become mechanical and that my work would lose its soul.
What is your favorite exhibition you’ve done so far?
I paint in the moment, I like to live in the present moment and give the best of myself in this moment. Right now I am finishing painting my next “Solo Project” for the fair Urvanity Art (Madrid) that I present with Victor Lope Gallery. After that, my next favorite exhibition will be in May in Dusseldorf, with Droste Gallery and then my “solo show” in Milan with Plan X.
It’s going to be a year full of processes and important moments and I want to live it to the fullest.
What is your favorite scale to work in?
The large format is where I feel more free.
Which place in the world has given you the most inspiration throughout your life?
Any of my art studios at 3 am.
What do your paintings of flowers represent to you? Is there any symbolism behind them?
Flowers are beings so hard and so fragile at the same time that, I believe, represent life in a very direct, simple and accessible way.
If you could give one piece of advice to up and coming artists what would it be?
If you want to tell something different, you have to live differently.
If you could go back in time, is there anything you would change in your history of painting?
No. Everything I’ve done is what makes me who I am, for better or worse, but I’m happy with this.
Your works seem to have a blend of both classical and renaissance qualities with a mix of contemporary as well. Am I correct in this observation? Where does that inspiration and drive come from?
Well, this is not quite so. It is true that I come from the classical and I have drunk a lot from the renaissance but my work moved away from it a long time ago, both technically and theoretically. I seek to generate that “strange connection” between the observer and the work, that which “seems” familiar but apparently is not.
And while we’re on the topic, how long has it taken you to develop and perfect your current style?
ALL MY LIFE! The whole life!
Do you think that once the artist arrives at his style it is easy for him to settle in?
Success can make you feel comfortable and calm, but maybe it can stagnate you and there is no evolution at work, I believe that when we are “uncomfortable” in life, we grow much more… I think that wanting to grow makes you improve.
What is the dialogue that you desire to invoke from your paintings?
None in particular. I like to think of myself as a mere catalyst. I’m in the middle of what’s going on and what you think is going on.
Because everything… is happening.
