RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS WITH ~ ANA BARRIGA BY PABLO G. VILLAZAN
“Rapid Fire Questions” is back and our compadre Pablo G. Villazan shares with us his Q&A session with talented Spanish artist - Ana Barriga. The League loves that one of Ana’s creative process is by utilizing objects like toys and unique pieces in which makes her surreal vision come to life the second her brush touches any surface. - League
So, Ready! Set! Gooooooo!
Who is Ana Barriga?
She is jdusrej hdysk masn jldioak and so all the time, sorry if you have had the bad luck to meet her.
Did you always want to be an artist?
I had no idea that someone could do this, I used to design furniture. I did not start painting until I entered college, I had a painting course and I had no choice but to taste the poison. Poison of the good kind that is. Little by little it took more of my time and it now surrounds my whole life. I spent the little time I had because I worked to pay for my studies and now I am lucky that it has become my life. This is pure magic, I hope I can do this all my life and above all enjoy the moment.
Where does your inspiration come from?
My environment and my experiences. We live surrounded by large stages that in my opinion, maintain similarities with vanitas, a genre that since the Renaissance has served as a pretext for artists to build realities and move the viewer through the scene. I speak of the still life that was first introduced in the painting as a secondary resource, for example the case of 'Cristo en Casa de Marta y María' (1618) by Diego Velázquez and especially in Los Embajadores (1533) by Hans Holbein the Younger. It served to transport the observer through infinity of secondary objects that spoke of the reality of the characters and their time. Through allegories and symbols, he told us about the lives of the protagonists and their stories. Later, in the Baroque, it became a motif in itself, just remember Sánchez Cotán or Zurbarán. Today, these metaphorical aspects having been desecrated, any everyday situation is capable of being interpreted as a still life; it is only a matter of applying a kind of zoom-in with our gaze to isolate certain aspects of reality.
Which artists have the greatest influence on your work?
Those who for me are like pokemon hunters and insatiably chase things that only they can see.
What is your process to create your work?
In principle I take the role of a hunter who shoots as a collection all kinds of objects that somehow arouse my curiosity, I see something that attracts me and I shoot to achieve it, it is a matter of instinct and aptitude. I take them to the studio and get acquainted with them. In all this process I attend to the unexpected dialogues that arise between them and provoke new ones. I mutilate, assemble, cut, paste and everything I can think of to generate new ideas. When I believe that there is a composition that combines conceptual and aesthetic parameters, I photograph the still life, manipulate the photography and project the image on the wall. Once the image format has been decided, I start painting. This process can be repeated at random throughout the production of the image. Everything is in the process of transformation, so I can delete the painting, the photo, change the still life or mutilate and restructure it.
Is there something you can’t live without in your studio?
I have a cap that has powers, it helps me focus and when I have someone in the studio it makes them transparent, it's wonderful.
What is the meaning behind your artwork?
I try to share with the viewer an experience that makes them reflect not only on what they see, but how they see it, questioning their perception.
Awaken the vision of fun localism through the power of your own experience. Inviting the visitor to enter my imaginary with the intention of discovering a secret, not a secret about the painting itself or about the art itself, but a secret about life itself.
Imagine that your paintings could talk, what would they say about you?
That would make me very scared, imagine one of my bears or one of my giant heads comes to life. I think that rather than talking about me, they would start by eating me.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Let them look at "the bug". "The bug" refers to that "I don't know what" that you have inside, and that for some reason you are always hungry, it is insatiable. I would not know how to explain it, but for me it would be what you believe in and what you do with passion without knowing the consequences or repercussions that they may have, something that has no shape or weight or smell, but at the same time awakens all your senses and makes you smile. If the bug weighs more than 10 kg, continue, do not hesitate. If it does not come to this, look for something else, surely you will find another type of bug to accompany you to enjoy life.
Do you find the social channel’s influence Positive or Negative?
I understand it as positive whenever we treat each space taking into account its possibilities. If we talk about painting, and we pretend that it is understood as painting itself, it is a bitch because painting has to be breathed live in person. But as a means of being and being in the world it is great.
Describe in 3 words how social channels affect you as an artist.
Piracy, primitive and wild.
What is your dream project?
The project of my dreams is to have a team that keeps up with it. That they are crazy enough to try to give shape to those ideas that haunt us in the head. With such a team the possibilities multiply, try new materials, read more, research in all areas, I have found that by suppressing my social and sleeping little I can do more things, but really alone it does not give me life for what my head think ... If you feel identified with this do not hesitate to contact me.
