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Interview with Carlos Fentanes

Didi Menendez

#TorontoArtist #BallpointPenArt #Photorealism

Carlos Fentanes, Mexican b.1968 is a Canadian self-taught artist living in Uxbridge Ontario Canada. He is known mainly for his ballpoint pen photorealistic drawings; he also works with oils and graphite.  In his works, the starting point is a quest about figuring out how to solve the basic problems of humanity: Love, Family, Food, Transcendence and impregnated with his family and childhood.

BIO HIGHLIGHTS 

COLLECTIONS

  • Mexican Embassy in Panama

  • Rudi Dornbusch, a member of the MIT Economics Department.

  • Javier Alatorre, Journalist.

  • Rafael & Jaime Micha.

  • Gerardo De La Madrid, Art Editor and son of the former Mexican president Miguel De La Madrid.

Q&A

How has 2020 events affected your work?
It was curious because it allowed me to spend more time with my family, but we didn’t have too much to do because everything was closed: No restaurants, no sports, no movie theater.

What role does your artwork have in society?
I think in my artwork as my own journal, it’s the way I am journaling so it’s very intimate, so it’s about my life and my experiences, I don’t know how this can have a role in society beyond myself. I don’t want to teach anything nor change the opinion of the spectator. It’s just for the only purpose of entertaining.

What concept or narrative is behind your work?
I have heard a lot about beauty as the ultimate goal of art; but no, I don’t think this is my case, I think it’s quite the opposite: There’s no way to make art and not generate beauty, that’s impossible even if you try on purpose to not make something beautiful, you’ll fail. So my work is much more about of demonstrate that beauty is something we don’t have to worry when we are making art or anything made by a human being.

How has working with our community at PoetsArtists helped your career?
It helped me grow in several ways: my audience has grown, my followers but also my skills have grown with the support of other artists. When you see what other artists posted in the group you cannot stay quiet, you observe them and learn and try to apply what you are learning in your own work.

Who is your art crush and why?
Rembrandt, every time that I am in a museum in Paris, I look for the Rembrandts in their collections. Maybe it’s the way he painted, the glazes, the brushes, the colors. I can stay hours in front of one of his paintings.