From my studio: Fernando Toledo

My name is Fernando Toledo and I'm the result of being born on a Caribbean island (I was born in Havana, Cuba) with everything that involves, colonial streets and churches with their colourful stained glass in the tropical light and the smells of the port. A magical place, loaded with stories, and full of open people. Those are my roots.

I studied at the San Alejandro art academy (Cuba). In my artwork, the path that interests me is spontaneity, passionate and free execution, figurative art, the unselfconscious traces of the brush, choosing line and colour almost as if they came from a stained glass window in order to make the everyday sacred, to raise to the level of the sacred those small daily moments where we are really ourselves, with no social pressure or constructed self-image, as simple as life itself. Since 2005 I've lived in Chile, with my wife and my two children.

When and why did you start painting?

I have memories of myself at 5 years old drawing with crayons on whatever surface got in my way (the walls of my house were part of it too), I probably had an enormous need to express myself combined with a big inner world and imagination. My family made sure I developed that ability in various painting studios.

How do you think a gallery and its artists should help each other?

As a rule artists aren't very good at spreading the word about their work, at offering it, sometimes not even at selling it. In that sense I think galería Montecatini has a close relationship with the creators it supports, and even these days that's vitally important.

What advice would you give to artists who are starting to show their artwork?

I think it's important to start from looking inwards, from experimenting without fear in order to reach a certain degree of self-knowledge, the “why do I do what I do”. Once you have that degree of personal confidence, look for the spaces and the media that connect most with what you create. For example, it often happens that young artists want to exhibit in galleries with a certain reputation for the line it adds to their CV, or to get into a certain elite. I don't see anything wrong with that in itself, but sometimes you may be losing the chance for your artwork to be seen by many more people and to have a greater impact on the viewer by showing it in the halls of a university, an institution or the foyer of a theatre, where it's also much easier to get in and start building up exhibiting experience.

How did you sell your first artwork? Is there one you feel a stronger connection with?

I'm almost sure the first artwork I sold was in Mexico City, I was there for 3 months at the end of 1999 invited by the Lasalle university to give a workshop along with another artist friend, and since the Cuban government took far too long to give us our exit permit we ended up arriving late and the university was already on holiday, and it turned out (as always happens) that necessity turns into creation, so we put together an auction with friends and thanks to that idea we got by those months and could even take something back to our country.

I think there are several paintings I've felt a great connection with, if I have to pick one of them it could be: “HILARIA”. Sometimes (like many artists) you get a bittersweet feeling when someone buys an artwork you were especially fond of, but it's part of what you do and, just like children, they're brought into the world only to leave later.

What is art for you? What part does it play in your life? Do you make a living from art?

For me art is a (pleasurable) path with a language of its own that the spirit understands. An expressive path that has always been in my life, like a strong ally through good times and bad, helping me perceive and understand the world. More than “making a living from art”, I live connected to art, I teach classes and workshops in various institutions, and then the exhibitions and the sales of my artwork are a complement.

What are your sources of inspiration? Do you identify with any other artist?

For me women are an inexhaustible source of inspiration. Woman portrayed in her solitude, in her intimacy, when she is herself without social stereotypes.

Artists I keep coming back to: the list is long, but to name one: Elaine de Kooning, especially for her portraits (all of them) with that power of synthesis, free but precise strokes, plus her direct, carefully worked figurative simplicity.

What is it about your creative process that makes it special?

I don't think it's very special, I usually listen to music while I work, I try to stay true to what I'm feeling, I'd say it's a kind of dialogue between what I want to express, what the artwork is asking of me and what the moment decrees should remain in time.

Have you had an exhibition recently, what can you tell us? Do you have any project in mind?

This year I've already had the chance to exhibit my work a couple of times, both at the Universidad de Concepción, Los Ángeles campus, Chile, and at the town hall of Laja, Chile. Right now I'm putting together, with a lot of excitement, a show in the city where I live, where I haven't exhibited for quite a while, and I hope it will be a reunion with the viewers who know me.