Interview with Ramón Rivas
Born in Ciudad Real / Spain. My work has a marked personal seal of identity that I apply in a free way and without limitations. I use my creativity to be different and look for new artistic proposals that surprise and excite.
My good imagination has been and is fundamental to develop creative, novel works that interact positively with the observer's eyes. My training, among others, as a Project and Organization Engineer, makes me work in an orderly, methodical way, studying the best alternatives, supervising good execution, introducing scientific topics, balancing the composition and making the painting a walkable space for the viewer. As a result, images are produced with elaborate precision work, with impressive density and depth that visually captivate. For this reason, I prefer to work in large format. For me, the artist's work is the embodiment of his inner self in a tangible form.
Therefore, my works are not intended to be mere decorative objects, but a skilful source of provocation that encourages the viewer to participate, and at the same time, to become a creative artist during the course of his journey around the stage and for the duration of the images recorded on his retina.
Can you pinpoint the moment you decided you wanted to become an artist?
Art in several of his specialities was always present in my life since my childhood. My whole family radiated art, from my grandfather, my mother and jobs at my father's companies. This creative environment was implored in my skin and it was very easy for me to express my artistic concerns at any time. This artistic creativity has been used since my early years of life, too, I have continued to use it and consolidate it, together with my multi-professional activities; Engineering, sport, music and inventions and, have culminated, with the application in the art world.
Where is your studio and where are you from?
The development and application of my work have been carried out together, in Ciudad Real (Castilla-La Mancha / Spain), a city in which I was born and in Madrid, where I did my university training and applied my knowledge of Organizational Engineer in various projects. Also, I entered the professional world of sport; organization, marketing, advertising and design. The world of music and inventions were also present in these two cities.
Although the study tends to be defined as a specific space and located in a physical place, in my case, my study has also been all the living spaces in which I have been able to develop my professional work and collect information to apply it to the art world. However, the final execution of work is carried out in my family habitat.
Tell us a little about your artistic background. What were your first influences to be creative and become a serious artist?
As I have described above, my training has been since my childhood, living with people who developed artistic works. My mother special education teacher and painter was my first school to do artistic work in my school years. With my grandfather, I lived with his mural works, especially landscapes and hunting themes. On school holidays, I worked as an assistant worker specializing in my father's companies, where they carried out work in wood and, veneer and paint in all kinds of vehicles. This information allowed me to start in a free way, in works of craftsmanship, painting, sculpture and small inventions. In my adult days, in addition to my studies as an organizational engineer, I studied; marketing, professional website design, graphic design and advertising production, and corporate communication design. All these knowledge and experiences have influenced the creation of my artistic proposal that I call Rivismo. Right now, I'm keeping an eye on the evolution of Covid-19, finally determining the dates of the New York And Spectrum-Red Dot Miami Art Fairs. Also, I am aware that other exhibitions can be held in Italy and New York. I continue to participate in many books and art magazines, some of which will be published throughout 2021 and 2022. I also attend various interviews and, with great gratitude, I am receiving important international awards.
Can you tell us what you have going on right now?
Obviously, in addition to answering the questions in this interview, I am carrying out the procedures to receive several books in which I have participated. I remain attentive to the evolution of the Covid-19 in my country, and also, in Europe and the US, of which I am pending to send my work to exhibitions. I'm preparing documentation for some art books and poems I've been invited to. Also, I've started a new large-format work. As a daily job, I check my email, social media accounts, and websites.
Can you describe what an average working day for you is like? Do you work on many creations at once or one at a time?
My work is similar to what project engineers would do. When I think of a new job, I make a visualization about the architecture of the composition that I want to perform. Mind control at this stage is essential and when I approve of what I have visualized, it is time to work with the elements that will be incorporated into the story I want to tell. My workday consists of phases dedicated to visually reproducing what I want, creating new elements, collecting information about textures, shapes and colors, and incorporating them into the physical media, directly, or in certain cases, in a previous phase to be treated by computer. It is a work in which I apply a mixed technique that meets the requirements of the philosophy and concepts of Rivismo.
During the day I also dedicate time to management work, having to attend all the proposals of participation in Exhibitions, Art Fairs, Interviews, Books, Magazines and International Awards. Normally, I focus on a single job from start to finish. In some exceptional case, if I have anything left to solve or improve in some previous work, I can alternate my time to finish them.
What makes your art different from others?
My spirit as an inventor, in terms of creating inventions that bring the novelty that can be patentable, has influenced me, so that my works in the art world, bring novelty, creativity, a lot of imagination, and ultimately, that try to surprise and excite the observer.
I incorporate material elements that I involve with characteristics and functions similar to those performed by humans. With this, I can transport the concepts of; "Strong", "Weak", "From a Party to the Whole", "All to a Party", "Reassignment of Roles or Functions", "Experience empathy of materials", etc., to the elements involved, through Experiencial Brushstrokes. To give an example of role reassignment; a fried egg that is soft and fragile, I face a steel sprocket that is strong and very hard. In the work, "Organic transmutation", it looks like the egg is transformed into a wheel and receives the functions and characteristics of that wheel. In other cases, in my work "Faces of matter", a Part of an element, it becomes a Whole, achieving the creation of a face in which human characteristics are reflected; laughter, joy, sadness, empathy for other materials, etc.
I do an elaborate precision work creating multiple images that I intend to have a visually captive depth. In addition, the elements involved enjoy an extraordinary density. Likewise, the observer has to elucide between reality and fantasy. All these ingredients are generators of good empathy between the elements of the composition and its observers. Going through and interacting with my works can be a pleasant adventure.
In your opinion, what role does the artist have in society? What do you hope that others will gain from viewing your art?
The artist uses a number of supports; canvases, wood, steel, bronze, visual media, paintings, etc., to incorporate into them; the real, the imaginary, the abstract, but also, the just and the unjust. Injustice, in its broadest context, is the reason that must compromise anyone, and in this case, the artist has to act as speaker and diffuser of images that denounce the loss of civil, social and political rights. Activism in the art world has to join those of other fields in its struggle to improve social or political changes.
As I have noted above, my artistic proposal, tries to create a friendly communication between the observer and the content of the painting. When an observer contemplates my art, I am offering to share my creativity and imagination, inviting him to create his own story through the elements of composition. I hope that they will contemplate new elements that will cause their surprise and, above all, that they fantasize and enjoy as they travel through the frame cm by cm.
What’s the most important element in your artwork?
As a job applying engineering influences, the preliminary draft represents a decisive factor in the execution of the work. The planning on the surface of the stage, the definition of the elements that will intervene and the fulfillment of the conditions of my personal style, which I call Rivismo, constitute the structure in which the other elements and materials of the work will be based. Going from this pre-execution phase of the project, importance moves from the structural phase to the final state. At this time, the most important element is the final work of art.
That being said, are there any lessons that you’ve learned that you could pass on to the younger generation of artists as they begin their journeys?
Having lived together since my childhood with people imbued with art and, at the same time, having learned in a free way and without any kind of imposition, I have managed to develop my work applying my personality and mind. I have known multiple elements, objects and application materials. Once I have learned the work and techniques of applying these materials, comes the phase of using the creativity, imagination and fantasy of my brain, to feed the elements involved in the composition. Although I don't like to give advice to anyone, I would recommend that once they know and practice with various techniques, including new technologies, they apply them without copying what has already been done. A failure would be for someone to say, he looks like the artist...! Success, be different!
What’s on the horizon for you?
The introduction of conceptual elements in my compositions creates an immense field of research and application of concepts and expressions of: physics, mathematics, chemistry, energy, cosmology, etc., which I will incorporate into future projects. As a next horizon, I would like my works to interact with art lovers visiting the great museums: MoMa, Guggenheim, Centre Pompidou, Tate, Hermitage, Reina Sofia, etc. As a somewhat further horizon, and as a fun way to end this interview, I would like some of my works involving supposed aliens to be included in future space travel and given to aliens as a cultural display of intergalactic concord.
Website http://www.rivismo.com/
