COLLECTION 6

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lour of the live element acquires
an increased presence. I also like
to emphasize the saturation of certain
colours (red, yellow..), creating
a surreal atmosphere where colour
breaks the logic of a realistic
view.
KALTBLUT: There is something extremely
unique about your work but also
something classic about it. What
are your influences in terms of art?
Joseba: I am interested in combining
different sensations inside
the image, one that unbalances
things and another that arranges
everything in a certain order, a
structure against its ruin. In many
of my works, there are still life
resonances and echoes of Baroque
painting. I also like a lot of actual
artists like Allison Shulnik
for example. There is so much visual
information today that sometimes it
is difficult to digest all this visual
universe that we receive.
KALTBLUT: Where do you get ideas for
a new painting from?
Joseba: There are many inspiring
things. Small residues found in soil
can hold an entire universe of sensations.
Attention is the tool. I
donʼt use natural models. The painting
itself offers many paths and
possibilities.
KALTBLUT: You work a lot with black.
So, NOIRE what comes to mind? What
would you paint to that word?
Joseba: Itʼs a quite suggestive
term. I imagine a bleak and hypnotic
space, where it seems that
everything is occult, submerged in
a deep silence. Noire can be a place
that everyone without revealing
themselves are awaiting our visit.
KALTBLUT: Some people may say your
work is difficult, “hard to take“,
why do you think they might feel
that way? Does it strike a chord
that makes them uneasy?
Joseba: I donʼt see this as a difficult
work. Perhaps the discomfort
can sometimes arise from the difficulty
of identifying the figures
and elements of the image, its ambiguity
creates a certain uneasiness.
KALTBLUT: Your work is haunting.
Colourful but dark at the same time.
What scares you the most?
Joseba: Anything that takes me to
an unpleasant experience. The experience
creates a way of perceiving
reality. Some images may be a kind
of catharsis to this fear.
KALTBLUT: Of all paintings, is there
one painting in which you would
like to live? Touch it, feel it?
Joseba: Wow, itʼs a quite fascinating
question. Perhaps I would
like to experiment the sensation of
being inside of the painting ʼAgnus
Day of Zurbaranʽ, touch the skin of
the animal and feel the silence of
the scene.
KALTBLUT: What do you think attracts
people in horror, darkness,
strangeness? What fascinates us
about things that frighten us?
Joseba: The fascination for something
that is strange but familiar
at the same time. I think that
there is a subtle difference between
the suggestion and the purely explicit
and descriptive way.
KALTBLUT: If you had to sum up your
body of work to 3 themes, what would
you say are the 3 major themes in
your work?
Joseba: Metamorphosis, light, organic.
KALTBLUT: What was the creepiest
dream you ever had? Do you remember?
Joseba: I remember one in which people
were following me to the door of
my house ... I tried to close the
door and couldnʼt, all I wanted was
to catch hands ... it was the end
... a bad dream where the only way
out was to scream!
KALTBLUT: What would your self portrait
look like? What colours represent
you?
Joseba: I donʼt know. I would paint
it in white shades, quite bright.
Perhaps it would start being real,
but surely would change until it
would become something unrecognizable.
Every form leads to another as
a river that always flows.