{"id":1952,"date":"2014-05-15T15:18:02","date_gmt":"2014-05-15T14:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodvale.com\/?p=1952"},"modified":"2014-05-15T15:18:02","modified_gmt":"2014-05-15T14:18:02","slug":"cave-paintings-of-our-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/cave-paintings-of-our-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Cave Paintings of our Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the artist\u2019s featured in last year\u2019s Marshwood Vale Magazine Arts Awards exhibition, Fernando Velazquez talks to Katherine Locke.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fernanado Velaquez is keen to talk about his adopted homeland. Although he grew up in a small village near Seville, he has lived in the UK for many years. \u2018This is a fascinating country\u2019, he says, \u2018You celebrate the individual and nurture creative talent here\u2019. He loves the way the British are constantly finding opportunities, where others see problems and how Brits relish devising solutions. \u2018For such a small country, it is extraordinary how far the British influence reaches\u2019, he says, \u2018The British go all over the world sharing their ideas\u2019. As an artist, with an interest in solving problems and cultivating creativity, he feels very at home here. \u2018It is not about where you are from, but embracing where you are\u2019, he says.<\/p>\n

According to his mother, Fernando Velaquez may be distantly related to the (Diego) Velaquez, one of the most important and noted painters of the Spanish Baroque period. Even if it is true (and it may just be family legend), Fernando wouldn\u2019t want to be known as an artist of his generation. \u2018I don\u2019t believe in artists being a reflection of our time anymore\u2019, he says. \u2018Art should be able to communicate to anyone, anywhere, anytime\u2019. Fernando thinks that in this post industrial, post digital world, there are some things that remain constant\u2014most importantly the human condition.<\/p>\n

\u2018Everything has changed in the modern world\u2019, he continues, \u2018we live in a time where travel from London to Sydney in three hours is becoming a real possibility. The concept of international has shifted and the fact that we can change the culture we live in with record speed has changed us.\u2019 However Fernando is interested in the constant\u2014what art can show us about ourselves. He asserts that great art is work that elicits an emotional response and is therefore beyond time and place. \u2018Art should stir the emotions\u2019, he says. \u2018A painting doesn\u2019t move or talk or entertain. It\u2019s sole function is to speak to us at a visceral level\u2019.<\/p>\n

He is supremely grateful to the great artists, Turner in particular. Velaquez was sixteen the first time he came to London. \u2018I was amazed by Turner\u2019, he says, \u2018blown away. But when I looked at his work when I was twenty-six it was different. Equally strong and compelling, but what I was bringing to the work had changed. Now I am forty seven I am finally getting it!\u2019.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, Velaquez says he wasn\u2019t particularly artistic as a child. \u2018I didn\u2019t draw or paint\u2019, he says \u2018nor did I have much interest in it\u2019. The youngest of a big family, he was surrounded by music. \u2018My family were creative, but tended to be musical\u2019, he says. Both his mother and sister played the piano and his brother has gone on to play in a symphony orchestra. Fernando only discovered his passion for art when he started law school at eighteen.<\/p>\n

\u2018It became on overwhelming need\u2019, he says, \u2018I would stay up all night drawing. The world of lawyers and law school was so stifling to me. I could see my life stretching out ahead\u2014being a lawyer in a small town\u2014and it created a powerful yearning for self-expression. I was a young man, not entirely in control of my emotions, and it hit me suddenly\u2014this amazing passion for looking\u2019. Art, he thinks, helps people focus on what actually matters.<\/p>\n

He is also passionate about encouraging creativity in others, and teaches art at Sherborne Prep School. \u2018Teaching is wonderful\u2019, he says, \u2018inspiring confidence in others to have a go, to make a mess and really look at something\u2019. Not only does he inspire amazing work in his students, but he loves to get the parents involved too. \u2018It\u2019s important for children to see their parents challenging themselves and valuing the creative process\u2019, he says. \u2018Adults can be wary about trying new things, particularly if they are already successful in their chosen field. Starting to paint or draw can make us very vulnerable\u2019. However, he loves how proud the children are of their parents\u2019 work. \u2018It gives the children more confidence to take risks\u2019, he says.<\/p>\n

Risk taking is a very important part of the creative process, for Fernando. He paints everyday and says for every one painting that makes it to an exhibition, there are five he takes straight to the tip. He also believes that investing time in nurturing our creativity is fundamentally important.<\/p>\n

\u2018Sometimes think we are too busy to be creative\u2019, he says, \u2018but instead of driving to work listening to a rubbish radio programme, take the opportunity to focus, to be silent, to listen\u2019. He believes that observing, having quiet time away from screens and telephones is essential. \u2018It is all about giving ourselves mental space\u2019, he says. \u2018Don\u2019t just talk about beauty\u2014do it. I have to paint a lot to get a painting I think the viewer deserves\u2019.<\/p>\n

His advice to young artists, who are serious about art, would be \u2018get a job\u2019. Creativity can flourish if you want it to and having to provide for a family or pay the rent, sharpens, not diminishes, our creative minds, in his opinion. \u2018Creativity is an ever flowing river\u2019, he says \u2018it never stops\u2019. It is a natural thing, but it has to be nurtured. He believes that it is impossible to teach students to be curious about art, if he isn\u2019t full of curiosity himself.<\/p>\n

His new work, about to be exhibited at Dorchester Arts Centre, has been described as \u2018unpredictable and mysterious\u2019. He wants to take the viewer through a range of emotions. The work is beautiful and abstract and requires the viewer to slow down and look. He tends not to give his work a title, as he doesn\u2019t want to lead the viewer. \u2018The painter should step back and out\u2019, he says. \u2018It is your business what you do with the work\u2019.<\/p>\n

He uses oil on canvas and makes the gold himself in order to get it to the exact consistency he needs. The idea is to open questions, never to patronise and engage the viewer in the work on a deep level. The work is bold and works differently according to distance. Close up, the viewer can see every brush mark, from a distance, the work take on a different, almost ethereal, sense.<\/p>\n

The latest exhibition is entitled Cave Painting of Our Time<\/em> and refers to the fact that we have access to fragments of ancient art that tell us something was happening, but we don\u2019t really know what. In a world that is changing so fast, he is sending a message to the future about our inner lives, which might be discovered but never fully understood. \u2018Ultimately\u2019, he says, \u2018my work is about things we used to know, but forgot\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the artist\u2019s featured in last year\u2019s Marshwood Vale Magazine Arts Awards exhibition, Fernando Velazquez talks to Katherine Locke. Fernanado Velaquez is keen to talk about his adopted homeland. Although he grew up in a small village near Seville, he has lived in the UK for many years. \u2018This is a fascinating country\u2019, he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[68],"class_list":["post-1952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts","tag-katherine-locke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1952\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.marshwoodlife.com\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}