An Interview with San Miguelian Artist Rodrigo Ayala

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  • An Interview with San Miguelian Artist Rodrigo Ayala

    By Kathleen B. Nicoletti

    Translation by Jessica Miramontes


    Rodrigo Ayala was born in Mexico City and moved to San Miguel de Allende in 2013 to study and earn a Bachelor of Visual Arts. It has been a year since he received his degree and since he has been pursuing his artistic career. He has a small studio in the center of San Miguel, where he paints and exhibits his work.


    Could you please express your ideas about creating art and your creative process?

    I am a painter, a portraitist of what people are most passionate about and the secrets they keep hidden.  I believe that through this art, these secrets can be revealed. The observation of the physical features of people gives me the possibility to see them as they are, without masks.

     

    When I am painting someone, I seek to capture their essence. I became dissatisfied with focusing on the physique and painting only their appearance; that is why I decided to break academic rules, and look for my own way but still keeping the portrait as my object of interest, while continuing to serve creativity. I began changing the colors of the skin, using a limited palette with the primary colors (red, blue, yellow, white and black).

     

    I exchanged the brush for the palette knife and each painting I created was a step toward the fragmentation of the face, breaking the contours of that face, leaving strong marks of color, and sweeping all the colors until creating a piece which speaks to me of the soul of the person .

     

    How do you choose colors?

    There are many aspects to my choice of colors. It can be a sunset that moved me so much that I decided to use its colors to paint a face, or the reflection of the sky in a puddle of water, an abstract painting that evoked visions of a wooded landscape shrouded in fog, or a dream that offered me the a host of beautiful colors.

     

    On those days when there is not so much inspiration, I decide playfully create pallets; by perhaps mixing the 50 violet variables that I can make with different blues and reds, and from there, a couple of colors captivate me and I begin to imagine beautiful compositions with those colors.

     

     

    How would you describe your style?

    I have walked through realism, impressionism, post impressionism, expressionism; I think it is important for the artist to go through the old styles and schools to find his own style; Now I believe my work is a kind of evolution of expressionism, with the same values, using the application of strident colors and the deformation of the face, all with the purpose of gaining expressivity.

     

    I have always been interested in feeling, beyond reason; I think that’s why I identify so much with expressionism.

     

    Who has influenced you?

    Lucian Freud, Van Gogh, Francis Bacon, Claude Monet, Ryan Hewett, Jenny Saville, Javier Marín.

     

    What inspires you?

    Nature, color, people, cities, night, small details, love.

     

    What are you striving for?

    I want to become an artist. I still do not believe I have earned the title; I believe I will do it one day, simultaneously sharing my vision of life, which in the end is art, the life vision of the artist embodied in paint on canvas or in a sculpture, or in a song. I want to turn my life into art.

     

    What does San Miguel add to your life? Your art?

    San Miguel de Allende is an incredible place, where a great diversity of people and cultures come together. It’s always a source of pleasure to converse and share experiences.

     

    San Miguel de Allende, provides me with many friends and acquaintances; painters, sculptors, musicians, writers, and photographers, with whom to share the love of art and creativity. I am impressed by the large number of artists in such a small place as San Miguel.


    You are cordially invited to attend Rodrigo Ayala’s Art Show, “MIRADAS” at Casa de la Noche’s  Bordello Gallery #19 Organos, Centro, San Miguel de Allende..

     

    Opening August 11th from 4pm to 7pm. Refreshments will be served.

    The exhibit will be displayed through September 8th.

    For group and private viewings contact Kathleen B. Nicoletti at Kathleenico@gamil.com

    See event details

     


     

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