Alejandro Javaloyas

As a child I was diagnosed with giftedness and OCD. I have a natural inclination towards obsession, perfection and excessive control. My artistic practice explores the tension between freedom and disproportionate control, as well as the transformative journey that occurs between the two.

I associate achieving extreme emotions with a loss of self-control. Letting myself go really scares me, I barely allow myself to do so, therefore painting becomes my only escape. I try to transcend my daily boundaries, challenge myself and go beyond. My abstract landscapes are very visceral. Moreover, I instinctively and involuntarily associate certain colors with certain moods in a synaesthetic way. For me, blue clearly conveys rage, pink signifies tranquility, brown expresses nostalgia and white represents fear. This is why colour and its gradation play such an important role in my work.

Oriented towards the struggle against self-oppression to attain a higher level of freedom, I work in the field of abstract expressionism. Abstraction and its lack of any representational aspiration can be a language, which allows me to focus on the process rather than the result. When the figuration fades, there are no good or bad results. Therefore, I cannot be trapped by my own compulsive search for perfection.

In order to have even less control over the end result, as well as to incorporate chance and material accidents into the process, I developed what I call «strategic mechanisms for losing control» (a term which is in itself a paradox, a paradigm of human contradiction). These SMLCs are very diverse in nature. One example I use very often is mixing all my pencils in one box. Half of them are water-soluble and the other is wax-based. When working, I use them indiscriminately. Once the first layer is finished, I proceed to humidify my surface thoroughly (with brushes, sponges or a spray) so that the traces with water soluble pencils begin to dilute, to flow, while the wax-based marks remain sharp and defined. Not knowing which parts of the work will be blurred highlights the relevance of the process (understood as a transformative journey) to the outcome and helps me adopt the unknown as a source of artistic merit.

I experience another world when I paint. I create abstract landscapes that have a spacious metaphysical domain for me. They behave as alternate dimensions where my alter ego can simply wander and feel free. As Piet Mondrian said, “Art is the path to spirituality.”

For more information: https://www.alejandrojavaloyas.com/