In The Studio With Carlos Ramirez
Gardner Colby Gallery recently received 3 fabulous new paintings from artist Carlos Ramirez.
We took the opportunity to chat with him about his life as an artist. Please enjoy this insightful conversation.
How would you describe your studio?
My studio is a large airy space. It has windows on three sides that face different gardens. Citrus trees to the east, a pool with palm trees to the south and a flowering garden on the north. It’s a wonderful space to work and get lost in.
What is your inspiration when painting?
It is always nature. I am a outdoors person, walking, bike riding, swimming, being outside for me symbolizes freedom in a way. It makes my heart smile. I want the work to reflect the joy, peace and calm that nature brings to me. It invariably drives my work.
Would you like to tell us a little bit about your own background?
I am Cuban born and came with my parents to the US when I was 7 as part of the flight out of the communist Castro regime. As immigrants my parents started from scratch here leaving all their possessions behind. I believe this plight and my parents struggles which I visualized first hand as a child has had a powerful lifelong impact on me. In many ways it made me fearless to pursue new ideas and avenues in life, to not just settle.
I went through law school to do good by my dad, but quickly realized that working as a lawyer was not something I was willing to do. Then on a whim (maybe out of desperation), before starting my last year of law school I started a fashion label. I had grown up in a house where my mom sewed for various contractors and seeing her make a suit or a gown was not uncommon. That became the beginning of a fashion business that I owned and worked in for over 30 years. We established a New Your City showroom on Seventh Avenue, had regular shows and sold to boutiques and stores around the world.
I developed an understanding of style, design, color, pattern as I worked putting together 6 collections a year. This rigorous work, season after season and year and year, laid the foundation for the development of my own aesthetic and sense of design. Most of my work involved not just developing new styles, but also drawing and painting new fabric print patterns and embroideries. Most of my day was filled with drawing and painting. The down side is a design business this large has an equally large stress level. I felt myself gravitating more and more to my parallel weekend life of a painter. I knew that at some point this would become my life.
How did Fashion influence your art, what is the connection?
It is intrinsic to my work. Fashion to me was developing ideas, playing with color, figuring how a pattern or design would lay out over the human body (canvas) etc. The similarities are endless in my head. I don’t really separate them in any way.
How do you describe your work?
Painting in many ways is a meditative process for me. A record of the evolution of time and work. After hours and days into the piece, you begin to connect deeply with the work and things that are not essential begin to fall away, carving out its essence.
I start out with a looser more free-spirit approach, letting the paint run, bleed and blend, I slowly begin to introduce linear elements as I build layers into the piece. These develop a sense of structure just as paths and planters do in a garden. They also reference a sense of movement and the passage of time. Going back and forth many times through this process in order to create an insight into the beautiful chaos I find in nature.
What do you hope viewers see in your work?
I hope they don’t really see anything, I hope they feel instead. I am not trying to tell a story as much as I am hoping to take you on an emotional journey. One that awakens curiosity and joy and in turn makes your heart smile.
Where do you see your Art in the future?
I’m here working and plan to continue to do that indefinitely. Wolf Kahn who has always been an inspiration, passed away a couple of years ago at 89. The year before he passed he had 5 gallery shows. That is a life well lived. I treasure that.
GARDNER COLBY GALLERY FINE ART NAPLES, FL
