Artsper meets Jonatan Maldonado

Artsper met with artist Jonatan Maldonado and took him a very poetic interview.

A: Hello Jonathan! First of all, congratulations on your success! Tell us everything! Could you please tell us a bit about your training?

J. M: My artistic training began 8 years ago when I was accepted by the small art school in Bucaramanga, my hometown. Then I moved to San Carlos, Valencia. This experience allowed me to improve my drawing and painting skills. My path in the art world has advanced little by little. My principle is that without a good technical and intellectual training, I should not show my work. It’s like shooting yourself in the foot. Then again, like everybody else, I had the chance to meet the right people at the right time. They have believed in me right away.

A: Did being accepted by a gallery change your life?

J.M: Of course! The art dealers are those who support you, who help the works that come out of your studio to become known. They also offer artists a certain stability. This stability boosts an artist’s self-confidence, and therefore the quality of their work. More sincere, more coherent in his own universe, an artist supported by his art dealer can only get better!

A: Do you remember an advice that you were given and that marked your career?

J. M: One of my first art teachers told me that we should never lose the capacity to be surprised by everything, all the time, even by the simplest things. I never forgot that. I was also taught that maturity is a lie, and that the artist must keep the sincerity of a child.

A: Could you synthetize your painting in one word?

J. M: Honest.

A: What is your vision, your approach?

J.M: I believe in one fundamental thing: I should always express my feelings, my passion for painting through poetic images. I fight for the survival of figurative painting. We must show that figuration and power of expression can coexist in harmony and combine strength and geometry.

A: Do you remember your first discovery, the first time that you felt the need to express yourself on canvas?

J.M: When I was a kid, I was doodling superheroes and cartoon characters. I believe that from the beginning, I always wanted to change, copy, and “hijack” reality, to understand its colors and shapes, and make them mine.

A: So there is a dreamy element in your work…

J.M: Today, I am much closer to memories. I dream every night, and I have vivid memories of my dreams. They follow me all day long.

As for the moment when I create, there is no “automatic writing”, I am fully aware of what I am doing, of what I want to convey. My compositions are well structured, and always reflect a state of mind, a purpose, a phrase I heard. I let the dream-like atmosphere of dreams come to me without rejecting it, and I “activate” it in order to explain feelings that would be impossible for me to express into words.

A: What can we wish you?

J.M: Good luck, and to meet many interesting people!

Le copiste du musée, 2013

Ludum Geometrica II, 2013 

Hurler et se libérer, 2013