With an extensive and rich creative and life trajectory, the artist, born in Agaete in 1933, maintains an extraordinary capacity for enthusiasm. This quality has led him to get involved in the program celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the Official School of Languages of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where this Wednesday he participates in a meeting with students.
The initiative arose after the school's director, who teaches English through art, visited the artist and proposed using his paintings in class. The creator was very seduced by the idea and expressed his desire to visit the school to talk with the students, finding the approach to creation through another language “truly fascinating.” For this meeting, the artist suggested working beforehand in class with his works La muerte puso huevos en la herida (Death Laid Eggs in the Wound) and Héroes atlánticos (Atlantic Heroes).
“"Creation is always linked to what is passionate, and learning another language this way must be truly exciting."
The choice of La muerte puso huevos en la herida is due to the literary component present in his painting, as it is a verse from Federico García Lorca's poem Llanto por Ignacio Sánchez Mejías, a fundamental author for the artist. This graphic series, reflecting his fascination with death, began after an invitation to exhibit in a tribute to the surrealist painter Óscar Domínguez, where he presented a series of skull paintings titled Carcajada blanca (White Laughter). Since then, the artist has been known as “the painter of skulls.”
Regarding Héroes atlánticos, the artist describes it as a pictorial epic featuring aboriginal warriors emblematic of Canarian identity who also embody universal archetypes. The inspiration for this work comes from his childhood, when he visited the Maipez site in Agaete, one of the largest aboriginal cemeteries in the Canary Islands. Each island is represented by a hero of a different color, but all share a face and a classicist component, influenced by Michelangelo's way of painting bodies in the Sistine Chapel.
The artist hopes that the students will understand the immense dedication required by creation, the spirit of transcendence that has guided him, and that they will learn to “interrogate” paintings, understanding that it is the contemplators who complete the works. He also trusts that this experience will be useful for their English exams.
