From my studio: Richard Pequeño Ticona

Richard Pequeño is an artist who tries to turn his work into a game and the game into work. Each of his artworks reflects a particular moment. Today he's the star of our "From my studio" section.

1. When and why did you start painting?
I was already drawing when I was young, but it was after finishing school that I decided to devote myself to doing something I liked.

2. ¿Qué momento del día prefieres a la hora de pintar? ¿Cuánto tiempo le dedicas a la pintura?Pinto por las mañanas y las tardes ya que me siento muy cómodo con la luz natural ya que mi taller cuenta con grandes ventanas.

3. Of all the paintings you've done, which is your favourite? Why?
I don't have one in particular as a favourite, since each one is special and unique in itself. I think every artwork reflects a particular moment, I try to turn work into a game and the game into work.

4. If you could be reincarnated as a master of art, who would you have liked to be?
I'd choose Velázquez for many reasons, although I would have liked to say Van Gogh.

5. What is or are your sources of inspiration?
Often they're challenges, for example, I have an artwork of a woven fabric where I wanted to see how much patience I had to paint it detail by detail, sometimes it's the subjects and other times it's the technique, though all of that depends on the stage we're going through, I started my career with expressionist subjects, I loved the gestural brushstroke and the thick pigment, everyone who knew me saw my future within that current, so I think that for me inspiration is taking something, it could be anything, and being able to make it special on a canvas.

6. Of all the artistic movements, which one has the greatest influence on your work?
There's so much to see and experiment with in all the pictorial currents and life is so short, and I have a certain interest in Expressionism and Surrealism, the latter being the path I'm exploring at the moment. I look to perfect my technique more and more, since personally I consider myself an artist in training. The road is long and there's a lot to learn.

7. What does art mean to you? What role does it play in your life?
For me art is a search, whether in subject matter, technique, being able to transform the essence of things with our particular way of seeing them, as well as many other factors, which reminds me of Odysseus, where the voyage is what gives everything its meaning, it's that long road, it's the cyclops' cave and all the places he'll travel through and get to see that make this voyage so special