Interview with José Hernández

q)Let's start with the basics; what's your full name, where do you live, and how old are you?

a)José Hernández. I live in Madrid, Spain and also in the province of Málaga. I am now 63 years old.

q) Do you have any formal training?

a)If you refer to formal education no but visual experience is universal.

q) Did the place you grew up in influence your image making?

a)Very much.

q) How do you come up with your concepts?

a) I didn’t come up with my concepts they came up with me.

q) Describe your creations in a clear, concise and understandable sentence. What do you call them?

a)They are part of me, I am part of them and we understand each other. I call them images.

q)What other mediums would you like to explore in your image making?

a)I would like to explore all mediums, ancient and new.

q)What is the best time in the day for you to work on a project? Is there one, or is it more about the environment -- maybe the right mood?

a)I work in the morning, in the afternoon and evening, usually from 10 to 2 and 4 to 8, seven days a week, sometimes more and rarely less.

q) What are your artistic influences?...and …generally who or what influences you the most?

a)All artists are influenced by so many events, other artists, history but if I am pushed to mention a few artists; Bacon, Goya, Valdes Leal, …

q) Who are some of your favourite artists/designers/photographers?

a)The list would be long. I am eclectic and it wouldn’t vary too much from the above.

q) What is your next project?Exhibition?Collaboration?

a)My next projects are a large mural for Leganés, a town near Madrid, Spain, a show in Paris, a show in Pamplona, Spain.

q)What are your plans for the future?

a)Too many to put into a sentence, but to keep painting, drawing and engraving, as well as thinking, and living.

q)Are there some web sites that You would like to recomend? Artists, art communities, xxx,...!?

a)I am only beginning to communicate on the web. It will take me some time to get organized.

q)What sort of music do you listen to?

a)Mostly classic, but also modern jazz, Dixie land jazz, operas… music is part of my life.

q)Do you collect anything?If so what?

a)I am not a collector as such, but many of my friends have brought different mounted insects from South America or Africa, and mounted bones of various animals, even a whales’ jaw, and sundry other interesting bones. An entomologist friend has even named a new species “hermerobius hernandezi” after me, which he found in Costa Rica.

q)What do you do for fun?

a)Fun is a word I find difficult to locate in my mind but pleasure is something I could be closer to, and I would say, have a good wine, good meal with good friends, and of course work alone in my studio in front of my paintings, my ideas and myself.

q)Any advice you can pass onto aspiring artists/designers?

a)I don´t condescend to other’s opinions, I just work – the canvas, the engraving plate and even the sculpture is something that is done in your studio, you do it, you are alone (this doesn’t mean you haven’t learned from others, but when you are starting something that is your own (creating?) you are alone in your studio.

q)Your contacts…

a)As I say I am just beginning to use the web. This maybe will begin later. Of course, I have my galleries. Galería Leandro Navarro, Madrid, Galerie Michèle Broutta, París.