I recently had the good fortune and honor to speak with two of my favorite cultural columnists: Lorena G. Maldonado (The Spanish) and Alberto Olmos (The confidential). They were tackling various topics that inspired Olmos’ next book (can’t wait to get my hands on it). At one point he supported it When someone makes himself known through a specific theme or aspect, he will always be labeled as hanged (especially if the label did not fall upon you by chance, but was chosen in a, so to speak, strategic way).
I’m one of those people who gets the appropriate answer hours or days later. I should have answered partner that Julio Iglesias was taking his first steps as a professional goalkeeper at Real Madrid before an injury put a guitar in his hands. At that time I only knew how to object to Lorena and Alberto from my particular case: I would have liked to study Fine Arts and, like Aznar with Catalan, I paint and draw privately. The thing about writing in the press was a surprise -I still wonder why they pay me to expose my jokes-, so I asked Olmos if there wasn’t the possibility that I could think of exposing my little things, that people he would like them and I begin to make myself known more for my drawings than for my writings. Alberto’s jug of cold water: “No. You’re a columnist, you don’t go out there anymore”. I was perplexed, it’s the effect that sincerity usually has, especially when it damages the ego: since I joined the letters there are still a lot and, for the moment, the only thing people are willing to pay are the my writings. This leaves my true vocation – pictorial expression – in the borage water. More or less acceptable columnist (at the moment), mediocre cartoonist. Thanks Olmos.
Thanks is not at all ironic. The truth, even if it hurts at first, sets you free. The quote is not only evangelicalIn general, we find this connection between the two concepts throughout the history of thought and literature. Seeing things clearly, leaving aside egomania, allows us to place ourselves better in the world. In my case, it frees me from the vanity of a successful artist and allows me to enjoy without pressure any painting or drawing I decide to tackle.
Since my home economics is also not dependent on results, I can recreate myself in what I do without any pressure. The same could be said of another hobby, but the case with any of the fine arts is different, as what motivates creation is prior research. Love towards what is seen, experienced, observed, feelings that overflow from the soul and need to be captured or expressed in one way or another: a ripped guitar arpeggio, a few brushstrokes, a couple of blank lines, launched into the world regardless of their literary quality.
An artist is one who is blessed by the gods with two gifts: the sensitivity already described together with the talent to perform masterfully.
In the latter I find the difference between art and craftsmanshipbetween art and craft or technique. Hours can be spent at the piano, being a certified pianist through the conservatory. One can draw and paint with photographic precision, have absolute mastery of volume and tone and color, but none of that makes someone an artist unless what they do is the result of an irrepressible desire to unleash the torrent of sensations and feelings that reality provokes in one – objective, figurative, imagined, internal or external – in those who are attentive to it, seek it, get lost in it, love it and, therefore, try to grasp it in some way.
I don’t intend to modify Alberto’s project with this, because, although he doesn’t know it -because he hasn’t seen my drawings and paintings- I am aware that I don’t have a special talent for capturing that accumulation of experiences on canvas or paper and, therefore, I would never dare to consider myself an artist. An artist is one who is blessed by the gods with two gifts: the sensitivity already described, together with the talent to perform masterfully.. Not only am I not an artist, but I’m also cheesy and influenced by trying to describe what others have done in more accurate and beautiful ways. But I had the need to publicly thank Alberto who, somewhat unconsciously, opened my eyes to my reality and, therefore, allows me to enjoy it more fully. Thanks Albert. And Merry Christmas.
