Roberto Cortázar
One of the most acclaimed artists in Latin America, Roberto Cortázar makes his debut in Asia with an exhibit that showcases work from throughout his career. He takes time out of his brief visit to tell Leanne Mirandilla about how art relates to astrophysics, as well as the rest of our everyday lives.
HK Magazine: So it’s your first time in Hong Kong?
Roberto Cortázar: Yes, actually it’s my first time in Asia. I normally don’t travel. [Hong Kong] is very impressive. [Traveling to a new city is] like staying in a room with one color, and then moving to another room with a completely different color. The most memorable thing that I found is the powerful and deep personality of this place. I really like and appreciate that. [Hong Kong people] are very successful through their own identities and personalities. It’s very exciting. We have a strong personality in Latin America, too.
HK: Do you typically not have time to travel?
RC: I paint every day from 11am to 8pm, and I used to live in a painting studio.
HK: But you’ve been to the USA before, right?
RC: For Mexico, the USA is part of the neighborhood. It’s very typical for a Mexican artist to work in North America. My first solo exhibition was in the 80s, in the heart of Mexico City. My second one was in SoHo, in New York. New York, Los Angeles and Miami, and even Central America, like Guatemala, El Salvador, et cetera—before, they were considered relatively far places, but now because of commerce, it’s very common [for artists to work and paint there].
HK: Would you say that most of your art is specifically about Mexico?
RC: My art is about the human self. Art is very universal in the same way that exact sciences are. it results from people’s concerns. In the Middle East, Asia, or America—supposedly there is no connection [between these places], but [the people] have all been working on solving the same problems since ancient times.
HK: It looks like you tend to depict classical, realistic human figures with an abstract twist.
RC: When I work, I always use real people as models. If you move a little bit closer [to this painting, “Man and Curves in Space #4”, similar to the painting on p.5], you can see the finest details—skin, eyelashes, the shine of the iris. All these precise and realistic details interact with abstract lines. I try to distort the image [of the human face], but in a realistic and objective way. I don’t change the image based on the whims of my imagination or because of the way I felt that day.
HK: You mentioned exact sciences earlier. Have you done any scientific research before?
RC: I find the investigation of astrophysics very fascinating. All the elements in the universe has their own place. The sun is the sun, and it doesn’t care about us. Everything in the universe is isolated, but at the same time it is intrinsically united in a universal symphony. How does that happen? I’ve done a lot of research in these ideas and I’ve adapted them to my paintings.