Interview for La Opinión – El Correo de Zamora
LA OPINIÓN – EL CORREO DE ZAMORA – 28/02/2017
Interview: Natalia Sánchez / Photo: Javier de la Fuente
#aoizorduna_de_viaje
Javier Aoiz Orduna: “Beauty is found in the little things around us”
“Still life painting is as valid as others and in my artworks I try to capture the beautiful part that life has”
The painter Javier Aoiz Orduna exhibits for the first time in this city. The Espacio36-Ángel Almeida Art Gallery presents twenty paintings made by this artist.
– In “De viaje” you combine urban landscapes with still lifes, two very different themes. Why both registers?
– Because they are the ones I have always liked the most, although I have also worked on other themes, such as the human figure. I often paint about what surrounds me, so I do still lifes, some of them in large format that are not exhibited here in Zamora. Still life is a painting genre that has been denigrated for a long time and it has been considered minor genre. I claim its importance.
– Why should these themes be valued?
– Still life is a kind of painting that is as valid as any other. I think the genre is not the most important thing. What you want to tell is the fundamental thing. I try to paint about everyday reality. Moreover, I like the beautiful part of things, because beauty can be found in all the little things that surround us. One of my favourite artists, Morandi, painted all his life almost the same objects and yet he did still lifes of extraordinary beauty. In my landscapes, I try to capture the places that I know and that I have interiorized. In addition, I sometimes mix the genres, that’s why in many still lifes there is a window where a landscape is shown.
– You look for beauty in everyday life and in what is close to you. But is it difficult to find it?
– I believe that beauty is everywhere. Last summer when I was in Zamora I fell in love with the city, especially the area along the Duero River, where there is a spectacular view, and the Zamora’s Cathedral, which is very different from others in Spain.
– Both in your still lifes and in your landscapes you give great importance to light, although the chromatic ranges you use are varied.
– Yes, that is true. But I don’t know what is the real reason behind it. Neither am I aware that this is what I look for in my paintings. In my artworks there are very few dark parts because I am really interested in light. I think it’s very good that there are artworks for all tastes and that there is an audience that appreciates ugliness in Art. But for me painting does not have to be vindictive or tell a story. For me the process of painting is not something that brings me suffering. It is one of the activities that gives me most pleasure and most happiness in my life. I think that in my paintings I try to transmit the beautiful side that life has, which also exists. Because to see misfortunes you only have to watch the news.
– One of the purposes of painting can be to show the pleasant side of existence?
– Perhaps in my case it is so. When I paint a portrait or a landscape I try to find therir most beautiful part.
– You have been Finalist in several editions of the BMW Painting Awards, one of the few awards that have survived the crisis.
– Being finalist has been an opportunity to give visibility to my artwork. In fact, recently I was contacted by Albano, a great painter who has won it and told me that he had followed my career through this competition. I hope it will be a contest that will not disappear and that it will maintain the quality.
– You have also had a relationship with the world of theatre. Will you return to do some theatrical scenery?
– I would love to. The crisis has meant that many of us who were involved in stage design have been left without work. Now there is a tendency to perform plays without scenery. The last stage design, wich I did for “I am Don Quixote de la Mancha”, with José Sacristán, was in 2012. It was in the Classical Theatre Festival, Almagro, and in the Español Theatre, Madrid. Working for the theatre is one of my passions.
– What projects do you have in mind?
– In March of next year I will make the jump abroad. I will exhibit with an Art Gallery near Geneva. It’s a very beautiful space, an old 19th century wine cellar. It’s a project that I find very interesting because it’s a way of opening up new markets.
Go to interview, LA OPINIÓN DIGITAL
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DE VIAJE (ON A JOURNEY) Exhibition
This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)