From my studio: Saúl Gil Corona

I was born in 1980 in Mollet del Vallés, Barcelona, into a family from the countryside of Andalusia and Murcia. I lived with them in a farmhouse in Granollers until I finally settled in the Catalan capital. I think both the countryside and the city have influenced the way I paint.

As a teenager I started writing down the things that happened to me in the form of poems, and at the same time I began discovering the music I liked. That led me to spend my twenties in two rock bands, Granreservaperro7 and Oye Cabrones, trying to emulate the idols of the day. When the bands broke up I kept writing, but poems instead of songs. And from there, as an extension of that calling, I rented a studio in an art centre and started painting.

When and why did you start painting?

The first thing I did was write. First songs for the rock bands I was in, then poems. In time I wanted to start expressing myself in another way, to stretch those poems onto wider ground, like a canvas or a wooden board, and that's how I started painting.

I'd already had a go at painting before, but just out of curiosity and without really enjoying it much. The reason was that I painted in a room at home, where you have to hold yourself back so as not to stain the walls, the floor and so on.

It was when I decided to rent a studio in an art centre in Granollers that, free of all that, I could paint freely without those worries.

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

I don't know whether they should help each other, I mean, I don't know if they really have any obligation to help one another, but if they do, then I suppose by being honest with each other first of all.

Then it would be good if they backed people who are starting out and could have a good career. Very often you find galleries that only show established artists, and for anyone trying to stick their head out that's a fence you have to jump. But well, I suppose these days the virtual gallery has more of a future than the physical one, since those tend to be empty unless there's some important event on. That has its good side, because publishing your artwork and having the whole world see it is within everyone's reach.

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

I don't think I'm in a position to give advice or counsel anyone, but I could encourage: encourage people who have faith in what they do, whether that's painting, writing, singing or whatever. Encourage them to build their dream and not to be afraid. And if it goes wrong once, try again, and if it goes off the rails again, try again, and so on to infinity.

I encourage them as a travelling companion, like a walker you run into on the road, like someone making the path alongside you. I suppose that's the difference between encouraging and advising: whoever encourages is still walking, still discovering the trail, whoever advises assumes they've arrived somewhere.

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

It was at the first exhibition I did in Granollers. It was in a shop specialising in beer. I sold my first and my second artwork there, on the same day, to one man.

I tend to feel connected to each artwork while I'm making it, because that artwork is the result of something I want to say, something I'm letting go of, like giving birth. When I finish it I breathe and feel relieved.

But obviously there are artworks I'm rather fond of. Intriga, El Abrazo IV or Que Adentro no se nos quede Nada come to mind, but I usually think, hopefully, that the best is yet to come.

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

I honestly don't know what art is. I think a while back I had a clearer idea about it, or at least that's what I thought. I believe less and less in labels and definitions, so I no longer ask myself whether something is or isn't art, or whether a certain painting is expressionist, or realist, or abstract or whatever. Trying to pin things down with a name that labels them really is too much of a bother for me. What matters to me is Doing, creating, building the Dream…

Besides, the word “art” has come to strike me as pompous and haughty, maybe too gratuitous at times: I think that name gets given to too many things on too many occasions. Like a word that's already been prostituted too much. I don't think that painting a picture means you're making art, nor singing flamenco, for example. Lately I also see a lot of appearances around art, as if the first thing you learned about it were the pose, the clothes and the discourse. And that discourse tends to be sort of cold.

Although I've often used it as a shortcut when explaining to someone what I do, I've never felt comfortable with it and I'd rather swap it for the word painting, or poems, or something along those lines. I prefer to refer to what I do (paint, write, etc.) rather than to what it is or is supposed to be. So I apologise for the times I've described myself as an artist or said that what I do is art, I want to banish myself from that. I paint, I write, I Do. It isn't up to me to define whether this is art or not, that's another league and other people's business.

For me, when people say “artist” I think of Picasso, of Camarón de la Isla, of Paco de Lucía, of Enric Montefusco, Led Zeppelin, Jim Morrison, Goya, Dalí, Velázquez, Odd Nerdrum, Michelangelo, etc. When they say art I think of Saturn Devouring His Son, Michelangelo's sculptures, La Nana del Caballo Grande, Standstill's La familia inventada, etc. Those are sublime things. How could I compare myself to that?

I'd rather call this the “building of the dream”, and that's what I do through painting, through poems and through a few other things that sometimes come into my head. I do it with an inner voice that tells me “Do!”, and that's what gets me up when, sometimes, too many negative thoughts pound away in my head.

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

I like the artists I mentioned before and quite a few more I'm leaving out, of course. But the person or people who have influenced me most are my parents, far more than any artist. The way they've faced life is the way I face painting, or at least I try to. That inner voice that tells me “do!”, that lifts me up and urges me to build the dream, is the same voice I suppose my parents heard as they built their life day by day. Their hands are hardened from doing, but their souls even more so, and it's those they trust to build their days, one after another. That's my inspiration.

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

I suppose that since every person is unique, every working method is special insofar as it's unique. I'm self-taught, so my learning is based on doing and doing and doing and picking things up as you make mistakes and put them right. I'm also very disciplined and hard-working. I suppose those are my strongest points.

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

I have a project in mind where I want to show my biggest artwork in terms of size, but it's still at a very early stage, and as soon as it takes more shape I'll be delighted to tell you about it.

Could you recommend us:

An artist: Picasso.

An artwork: Saturno devorando a sus hijos by Goya.

A book: El don de Vorace by Feliz Francisco Casanova or Vientos del Pueblo by Miguel Hernández, those come to mind right now.

A film: El desencanto by Jaime Chávarri.

We invite you to visit Saúl Gil Corona's gallery on Artelista.