Discover everything about Xavi Figueras' artistic process and its Underwater Series
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Kooness: How do you define success as an artist?
Xavi Figueras: In the end, success as an artist is when a lot of people know your work. This is the most appealing thing for all artists. But for me, personal success would be if people, when they see my work, can have the feelings that I had before I made it and that led me to work on it.
Kooness: Why do you make this type of art?
XF: I make this kind of art because it excites me, I get excited when I see images that inspire me by themselves. Often, its even simply the small details that make me want to reproduce these. That's when I really enjoy the material with which I decide to reproduce them. I look for the result to transfer the emotion I felt when enjoying the original image. That is why there is a certain realism in the way I convey it.
Kooness: What are you inspired by and where do you find inspiration?
XF: Since I was a child, I have spent many hours watching the water in wonder. Whether it was in the sea, in the pool or even in the bathtub. I don't know why but it always hypnotized and captivated me, yet at the same time I found it very calming and hallucinogenic. I have always been fascinated by how the visual effect of distortion is achieved, how the human body and any element becomes so soft and abstract.
"And in the human body, it draws my attention a lot when the gesticulation is casual and not at all imposed or pretended, when it is strange and sincere, and as ephemeral as water, when you see it, it has already passed."
Kooness: How do you make your artwork?
XF: I often start from a detail or a feeling. Once I manage to imagine the artwork clearly, I begin to create an environment in which to place it, a context. I've often made relatively large pieces for the sole purpose of enjoying a particular detail, the detail that originated the artwork, and I'm quite happy that the overall feeling of the scene is based on that detail, without anyone knowing, but with my conviction that without him, it would not be the same.
Kooness: What Does Your Art Mean to You?
XF: For me, my art means getting back to the pleasant initial feeling of the image that impressed me and motivated me to reproduce it, the joy of spending many hours inside, uncovering its secrets, and the gift of when others see it and enjoy my same feeling.
Written by Kooness