Arts Power

Painting is an art, and the art in its whole is not a vain objets creation which get lost in the void, but a power which has a goal and must serve to the evolution and to the refinement of the human soul. 

Wassily Kandinsky, 1912

Art is not the same visualised from the marketplace than lived within the workplace. This space of creation is what I wanted to bring forward with these ten short essays, outlines of personal reflections for EQUANIMA.

The working methodology in the development process of a painting, the relationship with the materials, calculated improvisations, knowledge and passion towards the work, having own judgment and striving to accomplish a dream, are experiences worth sharing when you’re an artist.

To make such exchange of insight possible, remember that to think is to do and to do is to think, that cognitions with no sensitivity equals emptiness and that humble interactions between people is the key to progress and wisdom within a culture.

If innovation and creativity are important we should stand up for such with action, making the right decisions, promoting and developing them in our work and that of our colleagues.

Art binds action and thought together. It is useful creation because when being created it personally enriches oneself, and when sharing it embeds mutual progress.

Initially published in Spanish for EQUANIMA 14/06/12

Translated by Marina Carbó
Picture: Rosa Mascarell "Mnemosyne" (fragment) 
Gold, thread and egg tempera on panel

Towards excellence

‘’To do stupid things I decided better to do nothing. It’s better to do something well, anything, than mediocrely what is supposed to be good.’’
Alejandro Aravena, 2012


Based on an old saying, Jesus declared himself able to revive the dead but incapable of healing stupidity. Maybe idiocy, as Aravena argues, comes from doing things because they have to be done, without conviction, simply to avoid boredom or to go with the flow.

In the context of our own work, assessment of mediocrity or excellence should depend primarily on our standards, not on a general external protocol. Neither Cezanne, Van Gogh nor many other artists would have painted what they have, if they would have stuck with those guidelines. Not to forget scientists such as Galileo Galilei or Charles Darwin, which without we wouldn’t understand our world today.

What these artists and scientists have in common is that they kept on investigating and working withstanding social rejection. They continued going against the current because they believed in themselves and in the value of their work.

Both giving in to inertia and doing something different just for the sake of being unique without judgment, conviction nor aims, can lead us to realise too late that we have done nothing but stupid things.

Initially published in Spanish for EQUANIMA 31/05/12

Translated by Marina Carbó
Picture: Rosa Mascarell "Straight and Safe Way to Heaven" 
Gold, thread and egg tempera on panel.