Jose Manuel Merello
Palma de Mallorca Cathedral
(50 x 65 cm)
Mixed media on paper
Q. Hearing the call within your mind, what
was your emergence of ‘the dream’ or ‘vision’
to express yourself through art?
JMM. When I was a small child I was given
a box of oil paint, some brushes and canvases
to paint. I had never shown interest in painting and in drawing, but it was enough to
start painting my first painting to feel a powerful attraction to the painting and color. My
imagination, live near the Prado Museum in
Madrid and have art lovers relatives did the
rest.
Q. As with everything, comes fear and resistance. What and who were your obstacles in
this journey?
JMM. Many artists have to rebel against
their parents to pursue art. In my case, the
freedom was absolute and I never had no impediment at my household level to paint and
paint what I wanted. On the contrary, I always felt fully supported and encouraged by
my surroundings. In my family was, as I said
before, a lot of interest mainly in literature
and painting. The obstacles I encountered
were of technical nature. I tried and played
all kinds of artistic currents and obsessively
attended the great Art Museums of Madrid
to study very closely the Great Masters.
Since very little I realized that nobody was
going to give me for free absolutely nothing
and it was me who had to find the sources
from which “drinking” and learn. And this,
which at first is a tremendous obstacle, eventually became my liberation as artist and an
enormous wealth for my style.