Xevi Solà, an Artist that is not only seeking with his paintings the contrast between appearance and intentions of characters, he is also communicating the visual strength, with the usage of complementary colors or with the contrast between vertical and horizontal lines in his paintings. Looking through his work, you will see characters standing on a flat landscape, in front of houses, etc. Those situations convey emotional intensity and even sadness. Check out our interview with him and get some insights into an artist life.

You define your work like filming a horror movie while using relaxing pastel tones. How did you discover your style and who influenced you?
Actually, I have been painting what I wanted and one day I discovered that people relate my work with a personal style. It is more difficult to recognize a style in a hiperrrealistic painter but the more organic is your artwork the easier to be identified. It's the same as the calligraphy.

Can you tell us something about the technique that you use for your paintings?
I seek not only the contrast between appearance and intentions of the characters, but I also try to communicate the visual strength in formal terms, for example with the use of complementary colors or with the use of the contrast between vertical and horizontal lines in painting and as you say with the contrast between the more finished parts and the less finished ones. I think the final result is more energetic.

Many of your paintings show a scene with a house in the background. What is the story behind this?
My scenes almost always occur in front of a house, a house with large windows, where someone might be watching, without being seen by anyone. Present in the collective unconscious from "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Poe or from "Psycho" by Hitchcock, the house on the hill becomes a third character, a silent witness of the scene, a veiled threat, and even a greater danger if we consider that characters turn their backs on the house.

The colors you use are very strong and eye catchy. Is there a story behind each color you use?
I consider myself a drawer and the painting has been for me an extra effort compared to learn another language. Maybe I paint this way because I don't know to do it better. I only know that I've found out the colour and if I wanted to paint in muted colors I would keep on drawing.

Are some of your paintings also based on a real story?
I have been working in a psiquiatric hospital, so, from that time, I have a lot of faces in my head that I sometimes use in my portraits. Maybe you can find a personal backgroud in many stories. I've always imagined strange stories.

How can we imagine your creative process? Do you start from 0 to 100 or is here a long brainstorming and sketching process?
I usually do a kind of brainstorming drawing some sketches. Later I choose one of these ideas to develop it step by step composing a scene.

How can we imagine your perfect atmosphere to start painting? At home? With loud music?For a long time, I used to paint at night, now I try to plan a timetable. There are two diferent phases in the process to create a painting : when I'm planning I need a lot of concentration whereas when I'm executing the ideas I'm more relaxed. Sometimes, in order to not hearing the noise from the outside, I usually work listening to classical music, it helps me to be more concentrated.

Did you have the chance to exhibit your paintings already?
My work has been exhibited in galleries and Art fairs in Spain, Germany, France, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Peru, Brasil or Taiwan. I hope to continue this way.

Any upcoming projects, exhibitions date you want to share with us?
Thinking in the future, mi intention is to discover and apply new pictorical languages in which the strengh of colour becomes increasingly prominent but without stealing, if possible, too much protagonism to the stories I want to tell. I also would like to keep on diving in the combination of figure and landscape. About exhibitions, now my works are exhibited in Barcelona and I hope to keep on working with the galleries I have been working with.