The stages of my career as an artist – Part 2

Second of a series of articles on the different stages of my career as an artist. A glimpse into my early paintings (2003 – 2006)

Paintings on image above from left to right:

• Rosa. Collage (paper, wall paint, acrylics, chalk) on wood. Spain 2004.
• 1000. Oil on canvas. 50×60 cm. Spain 2004.
• Familia. Oil on canvas. 60×90 cm. Spain 2004
• Amarillo. Mix (Oil, Chalk) on canvas. 80×100 cm. Spain 2004. (Sold)

Spontaneous creations, busy compositions, aggressive use and mix of colors, little or no frontiers between shapes. Rapid brushstrokes. Red, pink, yellow, green, oils, acrylics, wall paint, anything goes in these adventurous compositions. My early paintings… What can I say? I don’t want to influence your interpretation of the single pieces. But I can write a few words about the subject matter, the state of the paintings, and the place where I started to paint.

I was living in Florence when I started painting with oil paints (2001). In 2004, I moved to Spain and opened my own art studio. My first solo exhibition took place at the Camara de Comercio of Cuenca in 2006.

Artistic style

Brush strokes are spontaneous and inhibited. I was probably searching for my voice and artistic style, as well as exploring techniques and the different possibilities of the canvas. The use of sinuous curvy and flowing lines to depict female forms has been kept over the years.

Nudity

Woman figures display twisted poses, they are undressed, abstract and distorted. Nudity is implied, just the shapes suggest the existence of the undressed figures. Paintings from this period capture modest poses of women.

State of paintings

Most of the paintings from this period are still available. But many of them have suffered some damage mostly due to:

• Poor storage conditions, and transportation: I’ve relocated many times over the years from country to country, within the same country, within the same city, and I have changed Art Studio/Space like a thousand times, so my paintings have suffered stress due to changes in environmental humidity and temperature. Some works have stains on the back.
• Careless handling: Most people don’t know how to handle art, so after an exhibition, sometimes my works are damaged, scratched, or dimpled. It usually happens when displaying my works in bars, restaurants, cafes and music festivals, but it also happens (surprisingly) when displaying the works in Art Galleries. Displaying art in alternative venues is common for artists when starting out, and it has advantages and disadvantages. I sold quite a lot of paintings in these venues, which is great.
• Some paintings and sculptures from the early years have been thrown away, abandoned or given away.

If you are interested in the paintings I created from 2004-06, get in touch!

I see you in my next post!

Ciao!

Raquel Yunta