If art isn’t free, then what is it, asks local artist Ignacio Farías.
By Shannon O'Connor
The Zonie Report
Farías, 61, is a self-taught Chicano artist who creates abstract works using digital composition with acrylics and paints. His sole intention for his work is only to be beautiful, and he makes no bones about being called a “wall decorator” or using a computer to help create his works.
Born and raised in Mexico City, Farías began drawing things as a child. He said he was always in trouble at school for drawing caricatures of teachers and doodling in class.
He moved to Arizona in 1983 with his first wife, a native Arizonan, and their children. His techniques and unique styles come from experimentation and his only standard is to rarely, if ever, use a paintbrush.
“(In the beginning), I felt reluctant to use brushes,” Farías says. “Everyone uses brushes so I had to find another way.”
Instead, he uses a variation of tools that ranges from kitchen and carving utensils to spatulas, ice picks, combs and syringes. The only consistent marking that can be found on his works that were made with a brush is his signature, which he said enabled him to sign his name in a unique, Asian-looking style.
But it was his other hobbies, such as photography and advertising, that led to the use of digital composition in his artwork.
These tools of the 21st Century are the reason that Farías refers to his work as the product of “extreme mix media.” He says he’s a PC guy who uses a Velocity and plenty of Adobe software to bring his artistic visions to life.
Although the use of a computer may help with artistic effects, it doesn’t necessarily make the process go faster, Farías says. Much of the process involves the subconscious mind.
“Inspiration is not related,” Farías says. “Art is like a blessed area where the most beautiful things can happen. Never mind what is outside.”
Farías’ works are often created as a series, such as “The Eyes of a Woman,” which has about 80 different versions.
“No two women have the same eyes,” Farías said. “(They are) like fingerprints.”
Each displays the different types of women in the world. However, a few of them have an animal name that identifies the type of woman it depicts according to the Mesoamerican culture of Mexico. For example, the painting called “Eagle Woman Eyes” is a depiction of the “executive woman.”
Some of his other works are depicted on multiple canvases, such as “A Fascinating City,” which was done as an ode to Paris. This work is a display of five separate canvases that are displayed inches apart from one another but are connected by the flow of the elongated picture that they depict.
Link to Ignacio Farías website: http://www.ignaciofarias.com/
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