I am very pleased to introduce Xavier Robles De Medina. His skills in drawing and painting are extraordinary and have been promoted very early in his live, during school, where I was fortunate enough to have experienced his development at this young stages already. As far as I can look back Xavier was always fascinated in portraying people as well as himself. His greatest artinsary would certainly be the classical drawing, however to a much more deep-going way. When he portrays he wants to transport the feelings that are collected in the face, such as anger or happiness, but with a definite focus of only transporting what he sees: Reality. Have a read through the interview with Xavier to understand his works better:
Artition: How would you describe your work/art/style?
XRDM: My work is almost always representational. I work from the three dimensional form, which means I try not to use photographs. It is hard, especially with commissions and portraits, but ideally I work from life. In my work I try to portray the subject exactly as I see it, without exaggerating and romanticizing. I think there is a beauty in observing reality, rather than interpreting and changing it somehow. In my still-life compositions I usually do have a narrative in mind, and a concept or message that I try to communicate through inanimate objects. In Reaching, for instance, I used objects that are commercially manufactures, but trying to imitate humanity in their appearance. The idea is that they are reaching up to something that they aspire to be, which literally, is humanity; I would like to think that my drawings could be interpreted allegorically for many situations other than the literal situation portrayed in the piece.
Artition: What or who inspires you?
XRDM: In terms of my technique Baroque, and Neo-Classical painters most often inspire me. Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Jacques-Louis David, and Ingres are really big inspirations. I also love Käthe Kollwitz, Paul Cadmus, and James Ensor. The reason many of my compositions are square is mostly because of my admiration for Andy Warhol’s ideology of Pop being a universal art, which is something I try to recreate. I am very much inspired by Walt Disney, Andy Warhol, and Lady Gaga, not so much for the content of their work, but because I am absolutely obsessed with The Factory environment and try to recreate that for myself. Thus, I have to mention, that I surround myself purposely with people I admire greatly, which varies from Fashion designers to Musicians. Alexander McQueen’s show, Plato’s Atlantis, absolutely blew me away and the way the show incorporated the fashion, with the make-up and hair, and the music, and the stage and production design was phenomenal and one of the most inspiring things I’ve ever seen. Similarly, Matthew Barney’s Cremaster Cycle is something I really love for the same reason. Ultimately, I’d like to work in a way in which I could incorporate all types of art, because everything inspires me. Recently I designed and executed a drawing for the band AmPm, which I was really excited about because I felt I was somehow recreating Andy Warhol’s collaboration with The Velvet Underground. I am inspired by a very wide variety of things. Music seems to inspire me the most and I have many drawings that are directly based on contemporary music. Musicians like Fever Ray, Björk, Kraftwerk, David Bowie, The Beatles, and many other musicians often inspire me to create and often determine the subjects of my drawings. One thing that people tend to overlook, and I feel I need to make more obvious, is the inspiration and content of my art, which more often than not, is Pop. Films really inspire me as well; most notably the work of David Lynch, Michael Haneke, and Stanley Kubrick.
Artition: Is there a message you want to communicate with your art?
XRDM: I’ve probably answered that already. Yes, there’s always a message I try to communicate in my art. In my portraits and figure drawings I usually just try to show reality. And although I do think that in a very subtle way, light can have meaning and be metaphorical, I usually try to create a more calculated message with my still-life pieces because it is more accessible or more obvious to interpret subjects rather than light. It is imperative to me, that there be a message, and I try in my still-life compositions to make that as apparent as possible. For instance for Venus, my main inspirations were Paul Cadmus, and Jean Paul Gaultier’s collaboration with Madonna during the Blonde Ambition period. Paul Cadmus is one of the most fascinating painters to me, and I am particularly fascinated with his marks and the way he describes form. Jean Paul Gaultier’s pieces, I realized, have a similar aesthetic in terms of how his corsets shape the Female figure. Ultimately, the piece took a life of its own and I think it represents the ambiguity of iconography and how a Venus figure can elude both to Antiquity as well as Madonna.
In Eye of David, cash inspired me. I examined the dollar and decided to juxtapose the Eye of David with a feather, which subject-wise was inspired by the back of a one-dollar bill, where the Pyramid is shown below the all-seeing eye, and the Eagle on the other side of the word One. Of course the story of David provokes a world of interpretations and symbolism as well.
Artition: How do you like artition and what would you like to be added or changed?
XRDM: I honestly really like Artition as it is and the community seems immensely talented. One thing I had trouble with was creating different galleries. I would like to keep my sketches in a separate gallery from my finished pieces, and never quite figured out how to do that.
Artition: Who would you like to change life with for one day?
XRDM: If I could choose anyone from the past or the present I would definitely choose Napoleon Bonaparte. I think the way he formed his image through art and iconography, and collaborated with painters with political objectives is absolutely brilliant. But if I had to choose a contemporary figure I would have to say Lady Gaga, because she’s the most famous.
Artition: Who is your favorite artist?
XRDM: I really don’t have a favorite artist. It depends on my mood, on what I’m working on, and on the medium I am most fascinated with at the time. In terms of painting, I would probably narrow it down to Jacques-Louis David, Rembrandt, and Caravaggio. My favorite musician right now is Kraftwerk, but two weeks ago was Bjork, and before that was The Beatles. I also started listening to a band called Best Coast who I really like a lot. I have been fascinated with David Lynch for quite some time and am tempted to call him my favorite director.
Best Regards, Christian
*(Selected images: Reaching, Venus, Eye, Imagination, Monochrome-Self)
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