supertrouper Q&A with…
Iñigo Navarro
Artist Iñigo Navarro's work is a wonderful blurring of the line between reality and mystery. His pieces evoke emotions of love, beauty and intrigue.
It's a privilege to have worked with him in a recent troupe. exhibition in Madrid with the photographer Luis Gaspar (who we owe credit to for this photo of Iñigo). So we're super thrilled to have him as a #supertrouper and in our next Creatives in Conversation #troupegathering.
Can you tell us a little bit about what you're currently working on?
I'm like everyone else, affected by what's happening. But before it all started I had an exhibition with the photographer Luis Gaspar, in The Space Next Door, called The Hope of the West, which was a premonition of what was going to happen; the collapse of civilization. During the lockdown confinement I was working on very childish and delicate love stories with the purpose of evoking some of the happiest and most beautiful moments of my life. Now that we are seeing the consequences or results of the pandemic I want to embrace destiny and the dark nature of the new reality. I already know exactly how I want to do it but I don't want to talk about it until I have painted it.
What does "being creative" mean to you?
The idea you usually have about creativity is that of someone who has ideas all the time. Being creative in that way does not interest me much, I am interested in delicacy and sensitivity. Great poets have only had one idea throughout their lives, even if they have been refining it to almost inconceivable degrees of sophistication. I think to do that you need a mixture of ingenuity and hypersensitivity; that is the creativity that interests me.
In which city do you feel most inspired?
Madrid.
Why?
It's the theatre of my life. It's my model of the world and my weakness.
If you could join creative forces, who would you choose to collaborate with and what would you create?
There are a lot of people who have inspired me a lot these last few months. Actually, I feel like I've been collaborating with the people I love. They are not very well known artists, but they are very passionate and very talented people. If you want to do something interesting in art you need freshness. I'm not dying to work with Kieffer no matter how much I like his work.
Who is the person who has most impacted your creative journey?
God, my mother and my Mindi.
What's your coffee order?
Black with cold milk and one sugar.
Who makes it best?
My daughter. I taught her how to make it in an Italian coffee maker. Coffee tastes much better when it's served to you after you eat at home.
If you could be a fictional character, who would you be?
I'd like to be the Pink Panther, but I think unfortunately I'd be Inspector Clouseau!
What's your favourite cocktail?
The Half Combination at The Embassy. But since they've closed, I guess I don't have a favourite cocktail anymore.
What's your biggest fear?
That something will happen to my wife or my children, or losing faith. But these weren't always my fears; once at summer camp I woke the monitor up at night because I thought I had breast cancer.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
I would tell him that he'll start smoking sooner than he thinks.
You can see more of his incredible work through Galeria Contrast in Barcelona and follow him on Instagram here.