Es · De · En

A Painter´s Soul

I am a painter, and I find joy in reading poetry, listening to music, observing nature... however, I am not happy when I paint. When I am reading, listening, observing, I give free rein to my thoughts and desires and let go of my frustrations, but when I am painting, I am painfully aware of my limitations and shortcomings. 

When I observe a herd of horses, a pack of hounds, a herd of pigs or a flock of sheep, I think to myself how a photo camera could never capture the impressions they convey. It could reflect a moment in time with absolute precision, but it would just be that moment. Whereas when the artist’s soul is struck by the image of the herd of pigs, for instance, it not only captures the visual composition of the scene but all the memories that it arouses. Childhood memories that have pigs as protagonists, like when he used to look with admiration at the fattened pigs the whole family cared for in preparation of the slaughter. Seeing them grazing in the fields, crossing a truck full of pigs on the motorway on their way to the cruel slaughterhouse, going to the supermarket and seeing them laid out as meats and cold cuts, their legs propped up as majestic decoration… those are all impressions that cannot be conveyed by a simple photograph. They are the very sensations I as a painter aim to express through my work. Once a painting is completed, with limited wisdom and unlimited instinct, the artist can take a step back and become just another spectator, dialoguing with the work in the same loving and observing way he would with with any other piece.  


Jorge Rando, Malaga, January 2003