What pieces or projects have you been working on lately?
I’ve gone back to making mosaics again, but this time on a smaller scale and on wood panels. They include small, flat ceramic figurines that I make based on tracings of drawings my Gramma did for me when I was around four years old. She would draw them on the backs of cereal or cracker boxes, and I’d lay them out on the TV room floor and pretend it was the ocean. I’ve also been making smaller oil paintings and product drawings on paper.
What did you learn (or unlearn) while working on it?
It was definitely a lesson in patience again. Intense, tiny details are something I always revisit, and until I’m doing them, I forget how much I actually enjoy them. It’s nice to have an automatic shape to trace and only have to colour it with glaze for a change. It’s refreshing not to have to create a unique image every time, which can be exhausting, and to see that these repeated forms can be equally powerful and satisfying to make.
What words, ideas or emotions were running through your head?
I’ve definitely been thinking about my grandparents and parents and all of their colloquialisms. The ceramics give me a great feeling of nostalgia, and the mosaics remind me of when I used to make collages with tiny bits of paper twenty years ago. “Oh Golly!”, my Gramma Ida Swaney used to say.
Was there any conversation, film, music or book that found its way into this work?
Music of all genres is always playing in the background, though it tends to find its way more into my text-based fabric collages. I identify with the creation of visionary environments and think about those kinds of people a lot when I’m making mosaics. I visited the Watts Towers years ago, as well as several visionary environments in Spain, and they constantly cross my mind. The selfless creation, obsession and passion behind them are so admirable. Gaudí and his trencadís technique are also somewhere in the back of my mind because I live in Barcelona, the city of mosaic, but that wasn’t the main reason I became fascinated with the technique. It was more because of self-taught visionaries.
What was the most difficult thing you faced this month in your creative process?
My kiln malfunctioned and an entire load of work was destroyed, including sculptures by artists from a centre I’m working with.
What is your favourite restaurant and what would you recommend us to have there?
Extra Bar. A little bit of everything. It’s all excellent fusion tapas in the Gràcia neighbourhood.
If your life were a movie this month, what would its title be and who would make the soundtrack?
Shit Show. Soundtrack by Gwar.
Have you collaborated with any studios, labs or workshops recently, or would you like to in the future?
I’ve been collaborating as an art tutor at Asproseat, a Barcelona centre for people with developmental disabilities, something I wanted to do ever since I visited the Die Schlumper studio in Hamburg back in 2007. I want to help promote their art and document it through publications, exhibitions and sales through my platform, Aloise.
Recommend one or several artists you follow who inspire you, and tell us what you like most about their work or their way of working.
Sebastian Helling. I admire his ruthless, don’t-give-a-fuck attitude toward painting. He always seems to find the perfect balance between finished and unfinished, and he isn’t afraid of making “mistakes”.
Canadian artist based in Barcelona, Spain. Working across painting, collage, drawing, mosaic, and ceramics, his exuberant, densely detailed work draws from Art Brut, Outsider Art, children’s art, pop culture, and digital ephemera.