A home full of colour: An interview with Jorge Stasny
A collage of surprising and amusing elements, reflecting an inner world we'd love to step into for a bit to have a laugh.
The house of Jorge Stasny (@jorge_stasny on Instagram) has a lot to do with her work: a collage of surprising and fun elements, a reflection of an inner world we'd love to step into for a bit of a laugh. And despite the electrifying aesthetic, her home is also a place to escape to and spend a Sunday watching films with the projector or enjoying an impromptu salad with disparate, colourful ingredients. Just like her illustrations. Everything fits.
Tell us about yourself and your work. Where did your vocation start? Any first memories?
When I was little I had great difficulty with language in general, I really struggled to read and memorise, especially sequential things. My way of getting through my school years more or less successfully was to find tricks to be able to retain information. One of those tricks was to draw something next to the paragraphs to represent it, and that's how I started drawing.
Even as a teenager, my sister woke me up one Saturday morning rambling on about going to a buffet, and me, being a Carpanta, I went with her. Upon arriving, I discovered that we were in an exhibition hall, but I couldn't find the buffet anywhere... Annoyed, I asked my sister where on earth the buffet was and she, laughing, said to me: “What buffet my foot, I told you Dubuffet”At that moment I looked up and discovered the great author, his work, and thus my love for art was born.
What do you find most satisfying about your work, and any that you are particularly proud of?
The moment that gives me the most satisfaction is the middle process of a creation, when the work has already been started but is not finished. In that process I feel calm and I greatly enjoy the disconnection of that sort of trance in which space and time disappear.
I consider myself to be simply a medium for those drawings to be captured on a surface, but I never feel like the sole creator of the work, since many times I see them and think: “Where has this come from?. I suppose there has to be something related to the collective unconscious that makes those forms well up through my hands, but I don't conceive them from the creator's perspective, which means I feel satisfaction rather than pride.
What is your creative process like? What are your sources of inspiration?
Almost always from reading or learning. I like to start a work by grasping a concept or idea, but then things spill over and the work itself starts to take over. I am passionate about everything related to cultures and their beliefs, iconographic representations and their symbols.
«What is soft is stronger than what is hard; water is stronger than rock, love is stronger than violence. Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse
Favourite colour, book and record - in that order!
As a general rule, I don't believe that colour monopolies exist; one colour needs another to stand out, which is why I don't like any particular one, but rather the palettes or contrasts that can be created with them.
My favourite book is «Siddhartha» by Hermann Hesse (published in Spain by DeBolsillo).
When it comes to disco, there is one that forms part of the soundtrack of my life and it is «I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One» by Yo La Tengo.
Is your home a reflection of who you are? Tell us what it smells like, your favourite corner, your favourite decorative object or piece of furniture, if you treasure a collection...
Definitely. Our home is full of things and all of them are very personal, most of them made by us. I love homes where objects from different eras and countries live together, where every object has a story and serves a purpose.
I believe that the home is the material representation of our inner self and has a reciprocal interrelation with it.
My favourite corner is the living room, which doubles as a meeting hub. It especially comforts me when the house smells of fresh flowers.
If you could take anything home right now, what would it be?
To my mother-in-law.
A great plan at home always includes...
The projector.
Do you have a signature dish?
I'm a specialist at making delicious salads. I have a lot of imagination for inventing starters with raw ingredients, but when it comes to more elaborate recipes, I'm rather old-fashioned.
Where is your favourite place in your city and abroad?
It was in Barcelona Vinçon and I still haven't processed the grief. For now, my favourite place abroad might be Kerala.
Anything you want to tell us that we haven't asked you, speak now or forever hold your peace!
My mother taught me a love of home. For her it was sacred and she continuously fussed over it, adorning it with flowers from the garden. I believe the home is the material representation of our inner self and has a reciprocal interrelation with it.
