Nine years ago, I adopted a nomadic life. I live in three or four cities each year and visit between ten and twelve to paint murals. I’m deeply grateful, as in these nine years I’ve painted 116 murals in 87 different cities and visited several countries. Through this, I’ve had the chance to travel and learn countless things, but at the same time, it has somewhat limited my study practice.
Sometimes I imagine how much time I’ve spent on train platforms or in airports, how many hours in transit that, if added up, would amount to days. In those moments, reading becomes a faithful companion. I love to study, and I’ve read hundreds of articles during my waiting hours.
I’ve grown used to being a foreigner, always arriving, always leaving. The emotional universe that develops in this condition is contradictory: an immense solitude and, at the same time, an indescribable freedom. Having nowhere to return to shapes your character.
I managed to carry out my pictorial work while traveling, improvising studios wherever I happened to be. But even so, it wasn’t enough: emotions are deeply inspiring, and not using them to paint felt like a huge waste. I say this because, in a world increasingly polarized and insular, being a nomad is almost taboo. When you tell people that you live traveling, that you own few material things, and that you embrace impermanence, it creates a sense of distance, the distance of non-belonging.
Through these experiences, I found a way to create in motion, and, as usual, serendipity came to my aid. With little knowledge of Photoshop and without the proper equipment, I began experimenting with the technological possibilities I had at hand to develop what I call digital painting. I call it that because, even though I use technology to create, the result remains profoundly tactile.
“Metaphysicals” is the synthesis of my experiments with technology, ten graphic series (444 works in total) that narrate my wanderings. I believe they are highly symbolic and precise in reflecting what I’ve been sharing. The title “Metaphysicals” refers to the fact that during my travels I frequently explored altered states of consciousness in various natural settings. The sum of what I learned in the ordinary field of daily life and in the astral field of entheogenic experiences is reflected in this extensive body of work.
It has been a very interesting experience. I don’t intend to create through technology, because I love working with my hands, I adore brushes and rollers, the physical act of painting, away from screens. I believe “Metaphysicals” mirrors my sound experiments; both bodies of work perfectly narrate the inner and outer landscapes I walked through in search of a door, perhaps nonexistent, utopia and light.
My nomadic life is about to end. I still don’t know where, but what’s clear is that the road has been my school, and it’s time to live new experiences, perhaps belonging. I don’t yet know what will happen. This series of images remains as an abstract travel album.
