miquel morla Vicens: SKIN LIVED IN

SøEdited Team:
SøCreative Director/Interview: Chris Saint Sims 
​SøFashion Director: Savannah Barthorpe​​​​​​​​​​​


Miquel Morlà Vicens, born in Porreres (Mallorca) in 1971 is a Self-taught creative and artist, passionate about all form of creativity. But its the visual arts where he is drawn to with his output of illustrations and painting. 

Since he was young boy he has been fascinated by drawing and watercolour, but immersed himself in other fields of creating visuals such as graphic design involving t-shirt designs, logos and merchandising, as well as comics or graphics for magazines, poster design for musical events and theatre, along with the illustration for  books. 
In recent years Vicens has made the transition back to his youth, concentrating more with painting on medium and large format, using acrylic on canvas, card-board and wood as a base. 
​
His recent body of works depicting the portraits of characters from different places, has brought together a strange and intriguing collection of unique portraits, focusing on aging, structure of the face, the depth of the human condition and how a life is lived, expressed and recorded in the individual, and as an isolated human travelling ones own destiny. 

We spoke with Miguel on the narrative behind his work… 

​SO: 
What brought you to this project, and what was it that you wanted to discover about your creativity, and also about these portraits of the individuals? 

MV:
Faces, characters and facial expressions of people have always attracted my attention. I like to observe them, analyse them, imagine what is behind their face. Now with more confidence in my
painting, I try to capture this expression and depth. I also try to go beyond the simple academic portrait, to explore other ways of portraying, academicism, although I know that technique is essential to reach artistic freedom... academic
My way of portraying, sometimes it works and sometimes it simply does not.

​SO:
There is a real sense of mortality with these works. How would you respond of aging and death? 

MV:
​Physical and intellectual decline with advancing age is a very common topic of conversation at home. My partner has worked in a hospital emergency room for almost 20 years. Her relationship with the final stage of life or death was almost daily. We talked about it a lot.

On the other hand, since I was a child, I have had a lot of relationships with older people. It fascinates me that they share with me their experiences, their way of expressing themselves, their synthesis is a great subject, I have always had a great respect and admiration for them.

I am very interested in cultures with little technology, as they still have a venerable respect for their elders because of their great experience of life, within their communities.

In Mallorca, we still preserve this vision of the elderly and revere them greatly.  
It is crucial for me to present this in my brushstrokes when I paint these portraits.

​SO:
There is a haunting atmosphere within the portraits, along with a beauty and the structure in the faces of these aging characters. Can you tell me about this from your perspective. 

MV:
​I choose the people that can move the spectator. But these people have visually moved me, and that's why they were chosen through my own instinct. I am kind of the gate way that records these characters, for other people to then become curious about the skin and human form that is lived in. 

I don't want the viewer to be indifferent to feel questioned, invaded or threatened.
​I personally believe that's what art is all about. 

That atmosphere that exists today in the paintings is very ephemeral. 
I'm always changing, I need to search, I'm an eternal non-conformist.

​SO:
You have been using cardboard which ads to the an atmosphere, and is quite a beautiful canvas along with the use of recycling. Why did you choose to use cardboard as a canvas for these? 

MV:
​It's for several reasons: 
Firstly, I like to take advantage of its natural colour to integrate it into the painting. 
I take the opportunity to scratch it, to leave its internal waves, its texture when I have passed over it with brushes, rags and pigments.

Another reason is that, as it is a very economical format, my hand feels much freer to express myself, if there are mistakes or unsatisfactory results, it is thrown away and that's it. On the other hand, on canvas I work in a more rigid way. Maybe the viewer doesn't see it, but I do.

Finally, I'm interested in the attitude of taking any disposable object, in this case cardboard, to create something beautiful on top of it... it's like trying to give it a much more decent life than its final destination, which, in principle, was the recycling plant.

​SO:
What is your process when painting. Are you painting quickly and are you painting with the models, or from memory or photographers? 

MV: 
​I always carry a small notebook with me wherever I go, in markets, restaurants, airports, etc. There I sketch all those anonymous faces, although suggestive, that catch my attention. 

I really enjoy this practice, sometimes they notice and I share my notes, sometimes they will never know that I stole their face and I keep it in my notes.

I am very lucky to be able to travel, and in destinations and cultures far away and different from the western world. For me this is ecstasy, I can't stop taking those notes.

In other cases, sometimes I get a very powerful photo from the net and I can't avoid working it as a portrait.