Alora Artists
beautifulyoo.com
Life is Art, Art is Life - Artist Juan Carrasco Higalgo
© Juan Carrasco Hidalgo “Your first response when I told you how much I liked your paintings was to say that you were not a professional,” I said to Juan late one night on our terrace in Alora, where dinner and a few drinks had comfortably led into the interview that had been postponed by circumstances several times throughout the previous year.
“Is being professional necessary to produce good art?” I asked him.
The laughter in his eyes turned to more serious concentration. “Not necessarily,” he answered, “but professionals spend so much more time developing their work, I don’t have as much time as I need to do that.”
“Are professional artists necessarily good painters?”
“No,” he said, “often they have the opportunity to be professional artists because of the circles they move in, the contacts they have or the money at their disposal, rather than as a natural result of their ability.”
From a writer’s point of view I agreed completely. I had read far too many ‘best sellers’ that were frankly not worth the paper they were printed on.
“Would you like to have been a professional artist?” I asked him.
There was no hesitation as he shook his head. “No, but I would like to have had more time to develop my painting techniques.”
“Did having to earn a living get in the way?”
“Well, I had to earn a living, but no, it wasn’t that,” he said, “it’s just that there were other things I also wanted to do with my life.”
Talented chef, builder, designer of his own lovely Andalucian casa just outside of town, Juan Carrasco Hidalgo had not spent his life idling about. I had interviewed a number of professional artists in this beautiful part of the world before, all having dedicated their lives to the cause, some having had a measure of recognition and financial reward and others left only with their determination and faith in themselves. It seemed that dedication, resilience and very often disappointment were essential factors in the equation. Anyone who wanted to be a professional artist had to be prepared if necessary to sacrifice an awful lot.
“There are many different types of art,” said Juan, moving me away from that picture in my mind, and he wasn’t just referring to style, technique or chosen subject. “Life itself is art, being a builder or a chef is a form of art, whatever you do is art, the important thing is how you go about it.”
It was an interesting idea. A mouth-watering, well presented dish in a restaurant certainly could be conceived as a work of art, just as certain examples of architecture.
“How you relate to other people is art,” he went on, “the whole question of communication is art.”
It was a very broad, all-encompassing concept, so much so that I felt a little out of my depth, I needed to get a fix on it.
“Would you say that there is a central point to such a wide ranging theory? Is there a common factor, a shared goal to all these different forms of art?”
“Yes,” he said, again without hesitation, “the centre of it all, in my opinion, is the striving to be humane. Being humane is about understanding, about compassion, about communication, that is the creativity of it all.”
Using some of the basic elements of painting as a kind of canvas for our creative discussion, such as light, contrast, colour and balance, we continued deep into the night, this article hopefully being in itself a form of art, perhaps as Juani would have described it, a representation of Juani’s unique insight into the world, a reflection of his understanding of the human condition. While Juan had been so quick to point out that he wasn’t a professional painter, in the sense that he didn’t earn a living through his painting, his approach to life, and one that could be an inspiration to others, whatever their chosen art form, is undeniably professional.
© Juan Carrasco Hidalgo
“Tu primera respuesta cuando dije cuánto me gustan tus pinturas fue decir que no eras profesional,” dije a Juan una noche en nuestra terraza en Alora, en donde la cena y algunas bebidas habían llevado confortablemente a la entrevista que había sido pospuesta por circunstancias varias veces el año pasado.
“¿Es necesario ser profesional para producir buen arte?” le pregunté.
La risa en sus ojos dio vuelta a una concentración más seria. “No, no necesariamente,” contestó, “pero los profesionales pasan mucho más tiempo desarrollando su trabajo, del que yo dispongo.”
“¿Son los pintores profesionales necesariamente buenos artistas?”
“No,” dijo, “tienen a menudo la oportunidad de ser artistas profesionales debido a los círculos en los que se mueven, los contactos que tienen o el dinero a su disposición, en lugar de un talento natural.”
Desde el punto de vista de un escritor convine totalmente. Había leído bastante best-selleres que francamente no vale el papel en lo que estaban impresos.
“¿Te hubiera gustado haber sido un artista profesional?” le pregunté.
No había vacilación y sacudió su cabeza. “No, pero quisiera haber tenido más tiempo para desarrollar mis técnicas de pintura.”
“¿Te impidió tu trabajo ser profesional de la pintura?”
“Bueno, yo tuve que buscarme la vida, pero no, no era eso,” dijo, “era solo porque había otras cosas que también quise hacer con mi vida.”
El cocinero talentoso, constructor, diseñador de su propia casa andaluza encantadora muy cerca del pueblo, Juan Carrasco Hidalgo no había pasado su vida malagansto su tiempo. Me había entrevistado con un número de artistas profesionales en esta parte hermosa del mundo antes, dedicaban sus vidas enteras a la causa del arte, unas veces con reconocimiento y recompensa financiera y otras por nada más que su determinación y fe en sí mismos. Parecía que ese dedicación, resistencia y a veces decepción eran a menudo factores esenciales en la ecuación. Cualquier persona que quiso ser artista profesional ha tenido que estar preparado en caso de necesidad para sacrificar mucho.
“Hay muchos tipos de arte,” dijo Juan, sacandome de esas meditaciones. Y no se refería a estilo, a técnica o al tema elegido. “La vida en sí misma es arte, ser constructor o cocinero es una forma de arte, lo que haces es arte, la cosa más importante es cómo lo afrontas.”
Era una idea interesante. Un plato apetitoso y bien presentado en un restaurante se podía concebir ciertamente como obra de arte, como ciertos ejemplos de arquitectura. “Cómo te relacionas con la otra gente también es arte,” continuó, “la comunicación es arte.”
Era un concepto muy amplio, tanto que me perdí un poco, necesitó pillar la idea mejor:
“¿Dirías que hay un punto central en una teoría tan enorme? ¿Hay un factor común, una meta compartida a todas estas diversas formas de arte?”
“Sí,” dijo, otra vez sin vacilación, “el centro de todo, en mi opinión, es el esfuerzo de ser humano. El ser humano gira sobre la comprensión, sobre la compasión, sobre la comunicación, que es la creatividad de todo.”
Usando algunos de los elementos básicos de la pintura como un tipo de lienzo para nuestra charla creativa, tal como la luz, contraste, color y equilibrio, continuamos hacia el fondo de la noche, este artículo esperanzadamente ya que era en sí mismo una forma de arte, quizás como Juani lo habría descrito, una representación de su penetración única en el mundo, una reflexión de Juani de su comprensión de la condición humana. A pesar de que Juan había sido muy rápido en precisar que él no era pintor profesional, en el sentido que él no se gana la vida con su pintura, su acercamiento a la vida, que podría ser una inspiración para otros, cualquier que fuese su forma de arte elegida, es innegablemente profesional.
© Juan Carrasco Hidalgoz
© Juan Carrasco Hidalgo
© Juan Carrasco Hidalgo
Juan and Marina
Gracias a Gaspar Hilgar por ayudarme con mi español. (Mira unos artículos sobre Gaspar: ¡Mañananoi! y Kmorra).
July 2008
Villa Andalus, Alora, Andalucia, Spain

We have a lovely selection of holiday accommodation including villas with private pools, self-catering studios and apartments, bed and breakfast guesthouses and hotels in this beautiful part of Andalucia, Spain. If you would like to stay in Juan and Marina's beautiful villa
Click here for details
Villa Andalus, Alora, Andalucia, Spain

Return to features

Return to homepage