Santiago Talavera

The central axis of Santiago Talavera’s work is the reflection on the human condition through the investigation of landscape and its symbolic, narrative and spatial possibilities. The absence of the human being in his works, in combination with an intimate and absurd atmosphere in which past and future seem to intermingle, accentuate the need to think about the place we occupy, rather than as mere observers.
Through drawing, painting or video, Santiago Talavera prefigures and reconstructs space by investigating the imaginative possibilities of nature. His scenes seem to form a fragmented story where the newly occurring and the imminent open paths to speculation, and in which conflicts arising from the relationship between culture and nature are filtered.
In this direction, his work leaves traces of a landscape permeable to openly political issues of a collective nature that transcend personal domains. Hauntopolis, his current project that will be released in 2020, recovers the utopian tradition in a personal interpretation of how to address the disappointment of a cultural present that folds over itself.

Could you tell us a little more about your background, and how did you begin creating art? 

After finishing Fine Arts at Complutense University of Madrid with a final year at Camberwell College of Arts in London, I began my career in 2005 with my first solo exhibition in Madrid. Sharing studio with other artists was for years the best and most valuable way to understand the dynamics of the art world, where companionship is a rare commodity. Since 2015 I have looked for a second, calmer place to work, which has led me to spend time in my studio in Galicia. 

What does your art aim to say to the viewers? 

My intention is to raise reflection, debate and even controversy in the public through scenarios and landscapes that unfold a world without us and an immediate time before or after the end. Constantly, the question of the collapse of the capitalocene and its consequences is a backbone on which I continue to investigate. However, the tensions between an aesthetic of catastrophe and the treatment of vivid colors speak of a political intention to put hope to the test, to strain our ideas of the future in search of a paradigm shift. 

Can you tell us about the process of creating your work? What is your daily routine when working? 

There is a daily discipline in the study, which varies depending on the assignments or projects you have underway. When I finish something I spend some time collecting readings and information, before diving into the following. In this first stage I spend more time reading and making sketches, in which each element is questioned. Then I immerse myself in making the work, which can sometimes take very continuous work and many hours a day. 

In each of the phases of the process I have to negotiate with my decision making to focus on what is important. Over the years I have learned that the more limitations decrease, the more strength decreases, as Stravinsky said. Abandoning any idea of “creative freedom” and moving forward within a narrow range of restrictions, even arbitrary ones, is a driving force that, paradoxically, allows me to direct myself more precisely where I want to go. 

What’s the essential element in your art? 

I would say that it is the attention to the ambient/ environment, that which constitutes the background of our action as a species. Hence the absence of a human figure and the presence of staged spaces. 

In your opinion, what role does the artist have in society? 

Most of the art today serves socially as a sign of prestige linked to a certain spirit of modernity. Institutions also make use of the political matters of contemporary art, and thus remain politically unquestioned. Before talking about flying nymphs and other common places, the professional artist must bear in mind the enormous complexity of the system in which he/she participates, and that this hinders a true participatory role in any process of social change. Starting from here, I believe in the role that the artist can play in a transformative social process, if he/she transcends these problems and manages to build own imaginaries. 

Website: www.santiagotalavera.com