112 SPRING 2019
That’s an honest way to look at it. Which
artists influence your work, and which do you
look up to?
Of course, Nara, but I also love Philip Guston,
Rene Magritte, and Alex Katz... You can see they
all have very simple work. Well, it seems simple,
but it's not, it's very complicated. And sometimes
the work behind my paintings is really very
complicated too. But there are many, many, many
artists I get influenced by and you can clearly
see a few of them. You can see very clear Nara,
you can see the colors of Katz, Barry McGee
structures. Many people see Nara in my work, but
I can see more McGee in some of the pieces. You
know, his faces, only heads. And honestly, I'm not
ashamed of this. Sometimes artists are a little
ashamed, but I’m opposite—I’m proud that my
favorite artists are in my work. So that’s cool.
It’s great to hear you talk so openly about it. So
how much of your work is focused on portraying
yourself?
Every character is a little bit of a self-portrait. So it's
me in each one a little bit. My mom asked me, "Javi,
you can paint girls. Why you don't paint girls?" I say,
"Because I'm not a girl. Every one of these is me."
Sometimes I do girls, and sometimes I do something
that is a mix between girls and boys. It’s this kind of
age that you see a girl and a boy, and you don't know
exactly which one it is. So I’m painting this kind of
age maybe cause it was the happiest time in my life.
That moment. When I was an adolescent, I wasn't
really happy. But when I was a child, there was a
moment when my sister Carolina and me, we were
the same. You can go anywhere together, you are
always playing, the body is the same, and that was a
really, really happy time.The first thing that comes to mind when
I see your work is playfulness and positivism.
And getting to know you, that's obviously a
translation of yourself.
There is something in these characters. They have,
you know, the eyes, puppy eyes. But it's with red.
And the nose is also red. And the eyes are really
shiny, watery. So these guys are happy because
they just stopped crying. Do you know this
moment when you are crying or child is crying,
but then start to smile again?I know it really well—I have a four and a half-
year-old son...
Yeah, so the pain is gone and then you’re happy
again and this is the start of it. That is the moment
I paint—when experiencing something bad and
you just had a breakthrough. I think when a child
is crying and then stops to cry—they’re a hero.
Because he or she decided to overcome the pain.I also see your sense of irony, empathy, a bit of
a self-critique maybe, optimism, and some sort
of rebellion. Would you think that these are all
parts of your character?
Yes. My work is about emotions. There is a saying,
I don’t know who said it, but it goes like, "everything
is more important than art, but with art, you can
speak about important things." So with these simple
characters, only a pair of eyes and one T-shirt, I can
talk about everything. I can be critical, empathic,
happy. It depends. I like Philip Guston in that way,
the abstract painter. One day, he was in the studio
trying to mix the colors right, while there was news
about the war on the radio. So he felt stupid and
changed his practice, started to be a critic with
the work. I know that the moment I want to say
something critical, I can do that with my painting.
For the moment, I prefer to be ironic.Do you get emotionally attached to the
characters? Do you give them names or have a
hard time letting them go?
Yes, I do, and it happens more and more with time.
Two, three years ago, I would just make the painting,
ship it, make another one, ship it... And now I start
to like them more and more and Alicia (my wife)
often says, "Oh, don’t sell this, I want this piece.”
I am a collector too, and sometimes, I am my first
collector. For example, this guy with the glasses.
If I sell it, I probably want to paint another one, and if
I don’t, I might just keep it and not paint another one.
So, selling my work and letting go is the reason to
continue to paint. ’Cause if I have a lot of work
I can say, “Okay, I have enough. I don't need to paint
more.” But if I don't have them, then okay, let's make
another one.You're like Geppetto: just make another one. Do
you repeat them? Do you have some that you
made more than once in the same way?
Yeah, sometimes I try to do the same. But I cannot.
I start to work with the same colors, with the same
everything, but it never comes out the same.Top: 1971 , Watercolor and pencil on paper, 11.25” x 7.5”, 2017 Bottom right: I’m Ready, Watercolor and pencil on paper, 6” x 7.5”, 2017 Bottom left: I’m the Fucking Boss, Charcoal on paper, 4.75” x 6”, 2017