Full Circle.
An Interview With Pablo Santibáñez Servat
Stacy Conde: Most of our clients know you for your figurative work, and might be surprised to know that you've produced truly stunning still life paintings throughout your career. You've just completed two in a row, "Roman Torso", and "Three Jars". What's your focus at the moment?
Pablo Santibáñez Servat: I'm revisiting themes which have always fascinated me, and rediscovering the pleasure of still life painting. My work is a continuation of recurring themes from an ever changing perspective that time and age provide. Also, I'm working with new elements which I feel are asking to be painted.
SC: What do you find meaningful in the style of still life, why do you continue to return to the genre?
PSS: I like that in still life the proposal of the artist is naked, in a way, and presents elements of the artist's choosing for the viewer's eye to see and observe.
Traditionally the artist would place on a table elements that were not only illustrative of what the eventual owner of the piece might have for dinner, but much more so of the status of the person commissioning the work. Exotic foods, crystal, silver platters, all signifiers of wealth, were commonly represented. Now with the evolution of time a still life functions not just as a signifier of status but as an aesthetic work which allows the painter freedom to construct the artwork in a style that is not only based in history, but also pulled from the artist's own composition of meaningful elements. No longer are we saying I have enough food to survive while others are dying of hunger. I am presenting a personal, almost Jungian, collection of elements. The motivation for the creation of the work has changed.
SC: How has the move from the traditional commissioned still life to more contemporary, personal work changed your approach to the style?
Roman Torso, oil on canvas
PSS: Well now as a painter you have freedom, which actually brings double the work. You must be yourself in the painting through the thoughtful presentation of elements which are meaningful to you, and also as a painter you want the work to sell. I don't want to lie about that. Rothko, Picasso, Basquiat, Warhol, they always had the collector in mind. Their goal was not for the painting to be hidden in a closet, but sold. I hear people say the collector is not as important as the painting itself; it is naive to think one paints only for the art. Everyone wants to be recognized for both what they create and what they sell. Every artist wants their work to be loved by another. I paint what I want to have in my home, with the elements that speak to me, but still I hope there is someone who will love, collect and be enchanted with the work.
SC: Naive is an understatement. The falsely romanticized concept of the starving artist has always been a thorn in my side. Starvation is not romantic, no one lives to have their work, any kind of work, go unappreciated.
PSS: Exactly.
SC: Are there particular challenges involved in painting a still life as opposed to figurative work?
PSS: Yes, a still life is an exercise in technique, your skill is completely exposed in front of the viewer. If you place a glass or a rock in the composition, it must be done well. The viewer will immediately recognize a failure in the work - the challenge of a still life. The painter can not hide within complex compositions or abstract solutions, tricks figurative painters often use to disguise unsuccessful technical efforts. These are devices viewers don't often recognize, and why would they, they are tricks of the trade.
SC: It seems a small thing, but the colors you choose for your backgrounds, particularly evident in these two new works, is incredibly impactful and sets the tone for the work. How much thought do you put into your backgrounds?
PSS: Quite a lot. Both of the new pieces we're discussing, "Roman Torso and "Three Jars", have an almost flat background in which color is very important. Color brings a contemporary solution to the works without having to overly exaggerate anything else in the composition. The color functions as an independent element and provides the general color I build from.
All colors have meaning, in the case of the three jars, we have a green background which could be symbolic of the forest, an emerald which holds a symbolic significance in South America, or it could be jade - a sacred material, it could just be the color of my grandmother's sofa. The meaning is there, exactly what it means to me as the artist, I don't specifically say, because I want the viewer to create their own story about the piece.
SC: Which leads us to interpretation. I'm often asked to interpret works for clients, people are extremely interested in what the artist is trying to communicate in a work. What are your thoughts on this?
PSS: My elements are not all necessarily connected, in some cases they stand on their own. In all my paintings I choose different objects I love, all of which have a personal meaning. From there a story can created about me, or about the viewer who interprets the objects in their own way.
I don't like creating literal stories, closed ended stories. I present open ended stories for the collector or viewer to imagine their own interpretation. I want them to go and find clues using the elements I've depicted that don't fit together in reality, from there they can take a picture of me, my mind, my reality, or even better make it their own personal thing.
SC: Having said that, your work is a treasure trove of personal, historical, mythical and even archaeological references. I know you as a man who is very interested in objects and people - their histories, their meanings, their spirituality and motivations, all primarily focused on European and South American native populations. Can we talk a little more about the conceptual aspect of your process?
PSS: The new painting of the three jars is a good subject to consider in answering your question. The jars look beautiful together, and at first sight they appear to be from the same culture, place, shop, or archaeological dig, but in truth they represent three cultures important to me.
The first is classic Iberian pottery which depicts a soldier riding a horse with a long lance ready for combat, in the center is a Roman jar which is totally connected to the past of Spain. The Iberians fought Romans until finally, all the Iberian peninsula was dominated and mixed together with Rome. The conquest unified them, temporarily in some ways, permanently in others. On the right is another jar which is Incan but it was created in Chilean territory so it's also a mix of unified cultures. The jar's color and the drawing are a combination of the Incan style and the Deaguitas style from the north of Chile. Which repeats the theme of the Romans and Iberians. The conquest of the Chilean tribes by the Incas, who then eventually mixed together.
This is my own backstory of the piece, what it means to me, but it also evokes the history of still life. The work can be appreciated just for its aesthetic value, because it fits in with your living room or it could be something much deeper, as it is to me. I come from Chile and am of indigenous and European descent. I live in Spain. Rome, to me, is the home of everything in Europe, and the feathers are elements I chose not only for their color and their beauty but because I associate feathers with the magic of native peoples, in a romantic way. We tend to think romantically of things and people that no longer exist. These old cultures I always think of as magical and mystical, and in some cases they were, but that doesn't mean one is a believer in fairy tales.
SC: The choice you made, in terms of the jars, the objects you chose to represent this conquest and mixing of cultures and peoples, DNA itself, is interesting to me.
PSS: The jars as vessels are symbolic on many levels. We can view the vessel as the womb, from where life begins. In some South American tribes these kind of vessels were also used for burials.
SC: From birth and death, full circle.
PSS: Full circle.
