In an interview with our gallery, Spanish Artist Alberto Murillo shares his thought process behind his expressive work, and explores the path that his career has taken. Delve into his evocative paintings, saturated with concentrated, prominent pigments. Take a moment to appreciate this artist’s impassioned techniques of layering through resin.
Describe your studio
AM: My studio is a warehouse (2 at the moment) twenty minutes from home. There are two big skylights and very tall ceilings. I try to have it a bit organized but it is very messy most of the time. Because of my technique, my boards have to be on the floor instead of the walls or an easel. I usually work on many pieces at the same time. Working early in the morning since resin needs 7 hours to dry and going back in the evening.
When did you start creating art?
AM: I started as a kid, spending most of my time in school drawing and playing soccer – I was totally bored by anything else. I would exchange homework for drawings with my classmates and I won a lot of drawing competitions in my school as a kid.
When I became a teenager, I stopped drawing and didn’t use my talent again till I started my career as an Interior Designer in Spain. I spent 8 years drawing floor plans and making renderings. Towards my last years as a designer I started painting again and including my work in my design projects. That is when I realized I could have a career as an Artist, and everything changed from that moment on.
Describe your creative process
AM: I have very good visual memory – scary good some times – I see my pieces finished in my head before I start them. To try to put an idea I see in my head on paper before I start, I use my computer to sketch. I take from things I like, such as, magazines, nature, fashion, food – you know – an interesting texture, a visual effect, a pattern on a fabric… then I kind of create a visual board in my head.
Even though my ideas are very clear in my head, I do a lot of tests in my studio. I often can not find the way to produce them the same way I visualized them, many times something else very far from the idea happens. Those I call happy accidents. The best creations happen that way in my opinion.
What do you hope others see in your work?
AM: I hope people can see my love for life. The joy that I often can not express in any other way. I hope they can see all the labor and hard work I pour, literally, into every piece.
