Alejandra de la Torre is an artist who lives and works in Valencia, Spain. The object is the protagonist in Alejandra’s artworks, used as an element from which she narrates and discusses other topics of interest to her.
Falling in love with... Alejandra de la Torre
[interview]
Anna García (A.G.) In your opinion, what’s the meaning of art?
Alejandra de la Torre (A.T.) Such a difficult question, I think art is something that allows us to see the different ways of perceiving the world and therefore expanding our approach to seeing and feeling.
A.G. Concept or technique?
A.T. 50% 50%… a good artwork should have something behind it, not necessarily a deep or complex thought, but to create something powerful first of all you have to consider what you want to say or what you want to make feel through your artwork. Then, you have to be sure about the technique that you are using, and this does not mean you are a better or worse painter, you only have the ability, conscious or unconscious, of knowing the meaning of the different types of line, colours, framing, perspectives and forms.
A.G. What role does the artist have in society?
A.T. Considering that, in my opinion, art is something that allows us to see the different ways to sense the world. Of course, the artist’s role has to show to the rest of the people these many ways to see it, not just explaining it, but also immersing the audience in these worlds.
Furthermore, it is very important to all of us to learn being more open-minded and understanding that there is not one unique reality. There are a thousand ways of looking, loving, being, living, feeling and to be aware of it allows us to have a better connection with our environment, our society and with ourselves.
A.G. Where do you find the barrier between the business and creative necessity?
A.T. We need to be very clear that one thing is art and another thing is the art market. Sometimes, it looks like they are close and have similar rules other times, the distance in between both is huge.
Let’s say art is all that we can do without considering at any moment whether we can sell it or not, this can be our idea either by format, materials, etc… But unfortunately, the big part of the artists, in addition to this kind of projects, we have to know how to commodify our artwork.
In my case, for example, I always have had a chance to develop totally free projects. I usually create art installations where I can express myself better, with my ideas and my gaze. However, it is true that I also have other kinds of projects where the results are paintings or drawings which I make because I need artworks that people can acquire.
The goal is to arrive at a point where you can develop all the projects in a free way because it is in this kind of work where the artists get the best of themselves.
A.G. In your statement, the object is important, why?
A.T. I am a natural hoarder. Actually, I have a lot of attachment to familiar objects or old memories, because this is something that, at the same time, I liked and hated of myself. I decided to research the whys about sentimental attachment towards our objects and from my conclusions, I started to make artworks related to this topic.
It is so important to talk about the things that we are interested in, in one way or another, as it is difficult to transmit something if we talk about one topic that we are not interested in or we are not thrilled about or is far from our reality. That is why the artwork always tells us something about its creator. The artist.
Interview Anna García Fire Escape© Melbourne 2020.