My short and magic time at La Tempéra
Objective: Create intuitively a series of paintings managing to synthesize my persona as a whole.
Life in the city has dissociated me from my “sensorial and intrinsic self” to my “physical world”. I suddenly started feeling impersonal and disconnected from my emotions and intuition due to mechanical routine, to much planned life and viceversa. That is why isolation to a natural atmosphere for me, is necessary to be able to reset the creation process. Creating from pure feelings and emotions without distractions and expectations.
As an artist living in San Francisco for over 13 years but originally born between the Mediterranean life and the art scene of Barcelona city. I had a micro-existential crisis. Suddenly one day I felt totally disconnected from who I was. It is critical for an artist to identify issues that block freedom of creation and take action.
La Tempéra was the vehicle that helped me reconnect, living and creating without determination or prejudice. The only thing I set as a goal before I left USA was, to create 4 paintings. What comes out, will come out, I told myself, and that's how it went.
My first week was magique, naive, absorbent like a sponge cake dipped in milk, fresh, tender, and very cool. I explored the most amazing Burgundian villages like Auxerre, Nièvre, and Clamecy and made great friends with the residents & artists, Isabelle de Voldere, Marcus, Mahee, and Florian.
The residence was located in a pretty little village in Burgundy where it was surrounded by picturesque landscapes of large trees, sunflowers, and immense fields with sculptural "foliages" of greens and oranges. In La Tempera, I stayed in a small and cozy little house part of the "Maison" where there was everything essential to live, rest and create. Next to the kitchen-dining room, I had my inspiring studio where I spent the day and night painting in my own way.
I was immersed in a captivating state of acceptance and spontaneous peace when I got there. I left aside that - “Me, tired of living in an automatic life, unattainable with realistic canons of glory, false prestige dominated by Anglos-axon power” - and flood me with this - “Me, here. It was just me, nobody but everything I need”.
My room was full of spiders and some kind of centipedes… it seemed like Halloween had come early, but I learned to live with it and even gave them names, especially 2 huge ones that lived in my bathroom.
I discovered a new way of natural living, more faithful to existence and without haste. Obviously without forgetting who I was, but I had already forgotten and I needed to find myself again. Life in beautiful San Francisco makes me sad sometimes because it's a bubble in mid-air. “City life has been killing me lately” - slave of the gray streets and the same sour jokes over and over from people from the internet.
That month in La Tempera I rediscovered the illusion that only pure childhood possesses, but with an artistic maturity of mastered routine and the creative habit.
I made it!
And anyone can archive their goals in a place like “La Tempera”. 4 oil paintings and small illustrations based on pages of antique books chosen with the pure aim of tragedy, conspiracy, and love. “Letters to Americans” by Jean Cocteau and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.
As my style dictates, from these two books I ripped out the pages that I liked the most aesthetically and began to think about how to integrate them into my creations. So, I incorporated them into the canvas by strategically pasting them with wrinkled and imperfect textures. Afterward, the canvases were part of the works of Cocteau and Shakespeare and were ready to be painted over.
The topic of my artworks were about “The reconnection to mother nature and oneself”. I felt green and fresh as a tree.
Now. I would like to invite you to take a look at the photographic documentation during my stay at "La Tempéra".
Life in the city has dissociated me from my “sensorial and intrinsic self” to my “physical world”. I suddenly started feeling impersonal and disconnected from my emotions and intuition due to mechanical routine, to much planned life and viceversa. That is why isolation to a natural atmosphere for me, is necessary to be able to reset the creation process. Creating from pure feelings and emotions without distractions and expectations.
As an artist living in San Francisco for over 13 years but originally born between the Mediterranean life and the art scene of Barcelona city. I had a micro-existential crisis. Suddenly one day I felt totally disconnected from who I was. It is critical for an artist to identify issues that block freedom of creation and take action.
La Tempéra was the vehicle that helped me reconnect, living and creating without determination or prejudice. The only thing I set as a goal before I left USA was, to create 4 paintings. What comes out, will come out, I told myself, and that's how it went.
My first week was magique, naive, absorbent like a sponge cake dipped in milk, fresh, tender, and very cool. I explored the most amazing Burgundian villages like Auxerre, Nièvre, and Clamecy and made great friends with the residents & artists, Isabelle de Voldere, Marcus, Mahee, and Florian.
The residence was located in a pretty little village in Burgundy where it was surrounded by picturesque landscapes of large trees, sunflowers, and immense fields with sculptural "foliages" of greens and oranges. In La Tempera, I stayed in a small and cozy little house part of the "Maison" where there was everything essential to live, rest and create. Next to the kitchen-dining room, I had my inspiring studio where I spent the day and night painting in my own way.
I was immersed in a captivating state of acceptance and spontaneous peace when I got there. I left aside that - “Me, tired of living in an automatic life, unattainable with realistic canons of glory, false prestige dominated by Anglos-axon power” - and flood me with this - “Me, here. It was just me, nobody but everything I need”.
My room was full of spiders and some kind of centipedes… it seemed like Halloween had come early, but I learned to live with it and even gave them names, especially 2 huge ones that lived in my bathroom.
I discovered a new way of natural living, more faithful to existence and without haste. Obviously without forgetting who I was, but I had already forgotten and I needed to find myself again. Life in beautiful San Francisco makes me sad sometimes because it's a bubble in mid-air. “City life has been killing me lately” - slave of the gray streets and the same sour jokes over and over from people from the internet.
That month in La Tempera I rediscovered the illusion that only pure childhood possesses, but with an artistic maturity of mastered routine and the creative habit.
I made it!
And anyone can archive their goals in a place like “La Tempera”. 4 oil paintings and small illustrations based on pages of antique books chosen with the pure aim of tragedy, conspiracy, and love. “Letters to Americans” by Jean Cocteau and Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.
As my style dictates, from these two books I ripped out the pages that I liked the most aesthetically and began to think about how to integrate them into my creations. So, I incorporated them into the canvas by strategically pasting them with wrinkled and imperfect textures. Afterward, the canvases were part of the works of Cocteau and Shakespeare and were ready to be painted over.
The topic of my artworks were about “The reconnection to mother nature and oneself”. I felt green and fresh as a tree.
Now. I would like to invite you to take a look at the photographic documentation during my stay at "La Tempéra".
Habitat, activities and exploration
Photos of the creative process
Artwork and presentation - My last day at "La Tempéra"
I would like to warmly thank to "La Tempéra" family; Isabelle de Voldère, Marcus, Mahee and Florian, for their hospitality, patience, to guide me though this experience of relearning how to live with more freedom again.
Merci!
Merci!