AS IS | Magi Puig

Artist

From Tàrrega, Spain Based in Catalunya

"I choose the themes of my paintings from what I feel the closest, I have painted a lot of my partner and my children in intimate scenes because I felt I had to try to convey all the serenity and peace that they conveyed to me.."

A: Please, tell us a bit more about yourself. What brought you into art?

M: From a young age I was attracted to drawing, at first I wanted to be a comic book artist, my taste for painting came later, at university, while studying Fine Arts. I would like to quote especially the discovery of Bonnard, it was in my first year of university when a professor told me that what my painting reminded him a lot of this painter. I did not know him and I looked for him to know his work. I must say that at first, I did not like it at all. I guess I didn't understand it, from it I discovered the Nabis, especially Vuillard and the Fauves.

A: What inspires you the most?

M: I choose the themes of my paintings from what I feel the closest, I have painted a lot of my partner and my children in intimate scenes because I felt I had to try to convey all the serenity and peace that they conveyed to me, but also more vital beach scenes, where light is the protagonist and capturing the beauty and complexity of the human body is quite a challenge. I was also attracted by the vital colorism that the markets transmit, first the nearest and then farther away like those in Senegal or Vietnam. On these trips I discovered a taste for colonial architecture, leading me first to Cuba and then to Portugal and Morocco. To finish where I am now: painting urban panoramas of Barcelona or Paris. In fact, in the end, the different themes are just a pretext to keep painting. A catalyst to motivate me every day and not to bore the public or me.

A: Do you have any specific rituals while working (creating)?

M: I like to work in my studio, it is very difficult for me to do it in other spaces. There I have the right light, the easel in place, the chair at the right height, and all the necessary materials ready. I don't have to look for where every brush of the necessary size is at every moment and I can just concentrate on painting,

A: What would you recommend to someone who's new to art (an artist or just an admirer), what to begin with?

M: Don't be in a hurry, this world is not for sprinters, but rather an endurance race.

A: Your top 3 adjectives related to art?

M: Excitement, Excitement, Excitement

A: The best angle to look at art is from ..?

M: It doesn't matter, but take your time

A: The perfect phrase to start any conversation about art is:..?

M: A 4-year-old could do this

A: Must-read books to help us talk about art (or do we even need them)?

M: Any artist biographies are fine, and so David Hocney's Secret knowledge

A: What would it be if you could change one thing in the art world?

M: A little less inbreeding would be nice

A: Please, share your favorite quote (not necessarily related to art)

M: Degas, at the age of 70, told Ernest Rouart: "You need to have a high concept, not of what you are doing, but of what you could do, otherwise there is no point in continuing to work “

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