Hello Andreu, could you talk us about yourself?
I consider myself a regular person… but with imagination and stubborn.
You were born in Ibiza, what do you feel when you look back and see how the island has changed?
There are some changes that I like and others that I do not. For example, I don’t like the buildings constructed during the last years and also how this has been done. On the other hand, I like that people who live in the island are starting to be aware of this and want to change the situation.
We know that you are interested in environmental issues, and that you enjoy challenges. How this matches with «Ca Na Negreta», the family business you run?
I like my work because it changes continuously in all the processes that we do. This allows me to use my imagination. In addition, I have a magnificent human team, so makes easy to carry out.
Since you were a kid you’ve been passionate about art, always drawing and making small sculptures. But in the end, you left painting aside and have dedicated to do sculptures. Which was the reason?
I have always drawn from a very young age, but I’ve always preferred to concentrate myself on the figure and not on the space that surrounds it. This is the main reason why I prefer sculpture, it is more precise and concrete, and allows me to focus on giving life to what I want to sculpt.
You’ve studied at Ibiza technical school, you’re also an interior designer, you ‘ve worked as a carpenter for 15 years. This may mean that somehow during these years you left sculpture aside. Even though, the passion for sculpting was always there, isn’t it?
Well, that’s truth. Although, I believe that I haven’t sculpted too much during all my life. In my opinion, it is always a very similar process, the only thing that sometimes changes is the technique, if it’s with clay or paste to mold, you add dough and you mold it, on the other hand, with wood you are normally roughing. I prefer to add more quantity of dough in order to be able to rough it, so I shape it little by little, trying to get from that sculpture what I’m deeply looking for.
I believe that each one of us is born with a «gift», a virtue and if we do not give it into life, a piece of ourselves is missing. Do you agree with this?
Yes of course, I completely agree. We have to give life to that virtue or talent with which we were born, live passionately and do what we really like and we are good at. If not, something inside us will tell us that «something» is not there, so as to be and feel complete.
In your opinion, if sculpting is a trip to another world, what do you find in that world?
What I really want, anything … you can allow your imagination to run wild and let yourself go, you can even surprise yourself. When I am at my workshop I can spend hours sculpting immersed in this «world».
I know that one day at your work in «Ca Na Negreta» something happened that woke up your sleepy artistic side. Can you talk us about this?
One day two men came to look for some metals to make bronze. I was surprised, and started talking to them and ended signing up for a course they were doing in San Miguel. One of the guys was a man from India with a national award of sculpture in his country. We learned and practiced a technique called “lost wax”, this technique has more than 200 years old. I really liked the course and I’ve used many of what I learned. Before I already made sculpture with a sculptor called Ceballos, but never in bronze.
After you made your first bronze pieces the Association of «Ca lbicenc» (breed of dog native to the island) came up to you with a proposal.
That’s when I started to work more. I started sculpting more often with bronze.
After that, you receive a new proposal: a tribute sculpture if Ibiza’s native dog. Also Santa Eulalias’s Local Council asks you to make the sculptures of the «fameliars» (those mythological beings of Ibiza). What means to you to work your sculptures related to the culture and tradition of Ibiza?
I am very attracted on working with topics from the island, whether it is about mythologies, or our old dog breed or anything else. Whenever I can “give a hand”, they can count on me. I’m proud to give visibility to the culture and tradition of Ibiza
The PArt Gallery project arises, this helped to make yourself very well-known. How was your relationship with them?
It was fantastic, Patricia, the owner, is a lovely woman, so it is very easy to work with her and her team. They helped me a lot in those moments by giving me visibility and exposing my sculptures to the public. In addition, they asked me for a series of sculptures of «podencos” (hounds of Ibiza). I really enjoyed this work and was very satisfied with it.
In all this journey as an artist, your colleague and friend Andrés Lasanta has been always there. What this means to you?
He is the one from whom I’ve learned the most from sculpture. We should all learn about his way of seeing life. He is an exceptional person.
How would you define yourself as an artist?
Very easy, I do what I like and enjoy it, if not it wouldn’t make sense.
How do you understand sculpture and what do you highlight about it, in order to say that it is a good work?
Simply, after I watch it, I have lo like it and has to tell me something. I am not one of those who only analyze the technique and every detail. Art has to communicate, it is a language.
What «red lines» do you have to refuse to make a sculpture?
If I don’t like the project, I do not do it … no more red lines than that.
How would you define the art world today?
Today the artist’s image is more important than his work itself. This doesn’t make much sense to me, but I it has been like that since I remember, it’s a pity.
What is the message you want to get to people through your art?
Depends on the sculpture, because each sculpture hides behind a story, an idea, a message. The roundabout of Pacha, for example, before it was outraged, there were seven dogs, that is to say, a very special and significant number in some cultures. This is the number of the transformation, or the end of a cycle. Now because of “hooliganism” there are only five dogs left.
The podencos (hounds of Ibiza) are supposed come from Egypt by sea, that’s the meaning of the open hand facing the sea. The hand also means the island, and it is open in an unnatural position as if someone forced it to open… that would represent the last decades where these dogs are known worldwide.
Thank you very much Andreu for this coffee and open yourself to our readers. It has been a real pleasure to meet you and chat, in addition to all the laughs we have shared.
Thank you Helena for this pleasant time talking. It has been a pleasure to meet you and we will surely have another coffee.