One of the best things about living in Spain is the cultural life and the constant exploration of talented artists in all fields. Today we introduce painter Alfonso del Moral (Murcia, Spain. 1992).

About the Artist

After 15 years of training in a painting academy, he meets Pedro Cano, who will become his teacher. Between 2017 and 2021 he studied the Degree in Fine Arts at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, and moves in the artistic circuit with solo exhibitions like Ándalus at the Chys Gallery and Just Some Fantasies at the Arniches 26 Gallery. Part of his success comes from his portraiture capacity, having received commissions to paint various personalities as well as posters he has made for different events in that city. The artist currently resides in Valencia, where he is studying a Master in Artistic Production at the UPV, and works between Valencia and Murcia, where he has his studio.

Tell us about your biggest inspirations or influences.

We are not born isolated, nor can we be absolutely original, we artists join a choral conversation that has taken place for centuries, and all the previous tradition is a great path that has already been traveled. I do not deny that tradition, but I use it to be true to myself, or to the idea that I have of myself at all times. Obviously, my Master Pedro Cano has been a great inspiration for me. I like painting, and about classical painting I especially like Fortuny, Sorolla and Freud. I suppose that I am very influenced by the Spanish academic school. But inspiration comes from any field, and other artists and thinkers who inspire me right now are Nicolás Uribe, Rodrigo Cuevas, Gilles Deleuze, Juan Martín Prada, Antonio Negri, Judith Butler, classical music and opera, electronic music, the folklore or queer theory.

Anything can be used to establish new connections that inspire me artistically, even a conversation with a friend or with an older person.

Tell us a little about your creative process.

It depends on the type of work. When I have a commission, everything is more standardized. I use photos and he more the merrier. I make sketches and I build the painting based on all the information I have. If it is a series or a project, things change. I also start from photos and make sketches, but the first results can take me to another phase. Ultimately, it's about experimenting, and I'm never quite sure where painting will take me. After so many years, I have many internalized processes, so during the creative act I constantly let myself be carried away by my intuition. At the same time, while I am not painting, I like to read and think about the subject I am dealing with. I prefer what he does to make sense, at least to me.

Naturally, the creative process is continually influenced by internal factors (my life experiences and my personal tastes) and external factors (my references, the theoretical and conceptual currents that I discover and the opinion of certain people whose criteria I respect).

The process culminates with the exhibition of the work in front of the public, which produces feedback that determines some conclusions that generate new project ideas. So it really is a cyclical process, with no beginning and no end, like life itself.

How has the pandemic affected your creativity and how do you see the world changing?

At first I felt very unmotivated, I think like a large part of the population. It was hard for me to find the desire to get to work. Soon after, I realized that I could use it to my own advantage. Never again was the opportunity to have so much time to dedicate to painting and nothing else be repeated. In general, there are always many other tasks that do not leave me time to create. So I knew how to use what seemed like an impasse to be very productive and carry out various projects.

The pandemic was a before and after for my work, thanks to social networks, which made me reach out to many more people, to make me more orders and to find a way to solve one of the projects in which I have been most involved personally.

Who do you consider an icon of our time?

Our time is a very relative term. There are many "times" that take place at the same time. The generation before me (boomers) play with other times and other values, for example. Mine (millennials) was raised in the belief that with effort we would achieve everything, and then we have seen that it is not like that, we live in a constant crisis and job insecurity. I imagine that helps creativity. Luckily for me, I entered the Fine Arts degree seven years later than normal, after having completed a Law degree, a Master's Degree in Law and even starting a thesis. This made me be in contact with a generation significantly younger than mine and have access to certain currents of culture centennial, which have helped me to update myself and know how to combine elements of "high culture" and "low culture" (yes that that exists).

In this generational crossing, I could name many (artistic) icons: Rosalía or C. Tangana (sweeping home), but if I have to choose a person who represents the culture of our time for me, it is Samantha Hudson, a performer of the absurd. from my country that ridicules the most unfortunate aspects of society to transform them into humor art with a progressive-queer message and a language centennial.

What does wellness mean to you and what practice?

Above all, it means going with the truth ahead. Be honest with others and, above all, with myself. Only then can I feel calm and at peace. I should not blame myself for feeling what I feel, although I can try to manage my emotions in the healthiest way possible. Talk, express myself, that is well-being. Keeping quiet is the opposite.

Physical exercise helps me feel good. I particularly like to dance tango (I have been doing it for 10 years), because I find a place where I forget my problems and only think about the present: in my body, in the other body, in music, on the dance floor and in my emotions; Furthermore, it has become my family and a safe space where I can perform different gender roles that help me deconstruct myself.

Anything else you would like to share?

I conceive art as a constant question, as a means to ask questions about myself and about the world, without looking for answers.

Through the language of painting, I explore my interior dimension and my relationship with the exterior, simultaneously becoming a space for searching and finding my own identity, where I feel with greater freedom and better tools to carry out this process.

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