Cubana #2
Artist of the Week
Julio Ferrer
By Kerry Wright Zentner
Posted July 23rd, 2007.
Julio Ferrer was born in Cuba in 1973. He graduated from The National School of Art in Cuba in 1992. Since then, he has won numerous prizes for his paintings as well as for his satirical art. Ferrer is also an intelligent and enthusiastic man, which I discover upon meeting him in the gallery space above This Ain't the Rosedale Library on Church St. His work has been exhibited there for the last couple of weeks as part of an off-site exhibit presented by Spence Gallery, and today he is minding the show on its last day of display. This gives us ample time to sit down for a conversation while guests mill about the space.
Seeing the art in person, the first thing I notice is that it's much larger than I had expected, and a few of the pieces seem to swallow you in their deep colours and surfaces. The following conversation ensues. By the end, I feel that I've made a new friend. It's a shame he's only here until December.
MONDO: Tell me about your background. What were your first introductions to art and how did you get interested in painting?
Julio Ferrer: When I was a child, my grandpa introduced me to the first knowledge I had about art history. He also taught me to draw and paint. He painted in a very graphic way, cartoon-like, using flat colours and thick black outlines to build his images. He also used to paint scenes of graphic humour on pieces of cardboard. I guess that style influenced my work a lot.
MONDO: Tell me about your images. In some pieces there seems to be a correlation between tourism and pornography. What does that imagery mean to you?
Aurika
JF: As an artist, I want to tell about the moment I live in and the way I see things around me. The pieces you mentioned belong to a series of work that tells a bit about the story of prostitutes in Cuba and their desire to meet a tourist, get married, and leave the country. I've used aggressive images in most of the cases as it's not my interest to create art that looks beautiful, at least for telling this story. It's well executed but also provocative and aggressive. I try to be smart with the ideas, so the conceptual side of the work should be very strong, from my point of view. I used what are basically close ups at a huge scale, so the images can swallow the spectator into the work. I mixed the bodies and faces of these women indulging in pleasure, with the element of the plane symbolizing the male. The colours I used (the colours of the Cuban flag) are very symbolic for me too.
MONDO: What is the importance of the Hokusai wave? Also, what is the importance of some of the other objects you paint (oars, propellers, airplanes)?
JF: The Hokusai wave has been with me through years of creative activity. When I studied art I loved the piece. I always thought it was huge, but I had the chance to see the original work one day in 1997. It was in Havana at a show of Japanese art treasures, and I was amazed by the small scale of the print and by how big I had imagined it to be. By that time, I had already made my first appropriation of the wave as coming out of a glass of wine during a toast. Three years later, I could finally afford to make the piece called "90 miles," which was just the tsunami, but all in red. The size of the piece is 260 x 386 cm and it tells about the distance in between Cuba and Florida, and how thousands of Cubans have died in those waters while trying to follow the American dream. In general, I have used the symbolism of the wave to give multiple different lectures. I have turned it into sperm, smoke, had it coming out from a washing machine, had it as the image on a Russian black and white TV, etc. It's an image that brings out different feelings and I want to approach those feeling as well, also using the beauty of that image.
The oar, propeller, and airplane are all things people use to leave the country. People take whatever method they think they can afford in trying to do that. For me, they are important elements as, in some of my paintings, these things are the representation of the Cubans who are trying to escape. It's more authentic to represent the media they use to escape with, rather than the people themselves. It's more symbolic of their attempts.
Cubana #3
MONDO: Your work is humourous as well as political. Do you feel you have specific political statements you'd like to make, or is the humour the most important attribute of your work?
JF: My work is satirical, but in a positive way. I want to show things that make people reflect on something. I don't pretend to make fun of things in a silly way, I want that people smile or laugh, but while they are reflecting on the theme of the images. When people refer to Cuba, the word "politics" comes to their minds, as if the politics of the country are wrong. I think every country on the planet has their good and bad things in terms of their politics. We [Cuba] are not perfect but we try to be the best we can, in my opinion. I just want to represent upon the canvas, for posterity's sake, the moment in which I live, that's all. And through the way in which I express that moment, to make it accessible to everybody with a thoughtful laugh.
MONDO: You've developed a wonderfully distinct graphic style. Are there specific artists or movements that have influenced you? What inspires you when you work?
JF: I might say that above all are Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and Hokusai and all the Japanese erotic prints. I'm always with my muse, as well. At any time she could come by and drop me an idea, and in that single second I could be the happiest man in the world.
MONDO: How is Canada compared to Cuba for you, as far as being an artist goes? Is it easier for you to make a living as an artist in Cuba? What do you plan to do when you go back — do you have any future projects?
Evolucin
JF: I might say that I have been very lucky here. I've been getting commissions to do what I call POPtraits (portraits of children, basically in my pop-art style). Also, I have connected very fast with the art world here thanks to an invaluable friend who I've met with in Hamilton. But I still think I make a better living as an artist in my country, probably because I have recognition there, and here I'm only living for a few months. I sell my paintings there to tourists from all over the world. They are really into spending money on local art during their holidays. I'll probably sell more of my paintings to Canadian tourists back in Cuba, than here. (laughs)
That is just how they differ in terms of selling art. The government in Cuba is also very supportive of arts. Galleries just want to show avant-garde art in their spaces, they don't really care about selling; they just want to show the most experimental art. That fact allows me to show probably anything I want. I haven't experienced that mentality here because galleries are concerned a lot with selling. This mentality even affects making the images themselves, their scale and such, because galleries depend on them being affordable to their clients. I know there are experimental spaces as well, but I haven't had the luck of showing at them. Anyway, I prefer to do my art in my country, as I have less stress there, at least in matters of art.
In the future, I want to bring out a project based on my experiences in Canada. I've been working on sketches which I will develop once I go back to Cuba. I'm feeling like a sponge here, and when I go back I will turn all these emotions on to canvases. I will miss Canada, but it will last forever in my paintings.
You can contact Julio Ferrer at noesfacilcu (at) yahoo.es.