Jose Roosevelt

(Brazil)

SP: HOW DID YOU BECOME INTERESTED IN SURREALISM ?

JOSE: As a child, I've always been drawn to the marvelous in literature: the stories about fairies or genius, the comic books of science fiction, Alice in Wonderland. And there was a reproduction of the painting "The Garden of Delightful Pleasures" by Hieronimus Bosch that was printed in a book belonging to my father. That fascinated me most of everything else. Perhaps because this sort of "different dimension" of the sensible world was near to the subconscious and the oneiric universe. I was always fascinated by the dreams. For me, they were a symbolic answer to the meaning of existence. At the age of fifteen, I discovered the work of Salvador Dalí, and it was a sort of mystical revelation: I knew that kind of painting would be for me, the center of my philosophical and artistic interest for the rest of my life.

SP: WHAT MEDIUMS DO YOU PRESENTLY WORK IN?
JOSE: Even though I have experimented with many different mediums (acrylics, watercolor, ink), I work mainly with oils. Oils are the best because of the magnificence and intensity of its colors. Only with oils can you give the impression of reality to your dreamlike images.
But I like very much to draw with pencils. It is another way to represent images, more abstract . . . perhaps more artistic also, because there is less "realism" in it.

SP: WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON NOW?
JOSE: Well, these days - and for some months I have been working on the second volume of a graphic novel entitled "Ce" . "Ce" in French means "This". The title is purposely vague because it is a story about a guy whose name is not revealed who discovers himself in three different dimensions. He passes from one dimension to the other, under the circumstances. Two of those dimensions are dreams . . . but it is impossible (for the moment) to know which. I am working on the second volume of a series of eight. The complete work will take me some years but I will work continually on it. When the second volume is finished, I will paint for some time!

SP: DESCRIBE YOUR CREATIVE/PAINTING PROCESS
JOSE: An idea is always the beginning. It can be a visual idea, an image, and it will become a painting. It can be an idea for a story, and it will become a graphic novel. I must admit that I do not know how an idea is born in my mind. It must be what we commonly call "inspiration". It can come at the most unexpected moments. For example, when I am traveling in a train and looking at the landscape by the window. I do not search for ideas: they come naturally. And, when they are there, the real work begins: transform them into a painting or a graphic novel. Most of those ideas do not make sense to me. It doesn't mean that they are senseless, I think it is me who is not able to understand them. I only feel that they are important, because they appear with great force in my mind and I have the feeling that I must give them a form.

SP: DO YOU EXPERIENCE ARTISTS BLOCK AND IF SO HOW DO YOU OVERCOME IT?
JOSE: No I don't.

SP: WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL HISTORY WITH ART?
JOSE: Well, as I wrote above, first there was Hieronimus Bosch, after that there was Dalì . . . of course, in the beginning I was only interested about fantastic art and surrealism, but painting became more and more present in my life, so I opened my mind to this form of art. I discovered the brilliant techniques of Flemish masters of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Italian Renaissance, Caravaggio and Rembrandt. Until the age of 20, only realism interested me, but later I became interested by artists such as Klimt, Schiele, Toulouse-Lautrec (because of their fabulous drawing), Monet (because of his knowledge of colors) and Picasso (because of his invention). Everyone of those masters have influenced my vision of art. I think they helped me to increase my sensibility and to explore my possibilities as an artist.

I began to paint trying to imitate Dalí and Magritte. It was hard, of course! I used photography as models in the first years (I began to paint at the age of 15), but I quickly understood that photos were not adequate for it, because they are already interpretations of reality. So I used real models. I practiced drawing very often, mainly from the human models. Today, I do not use models anymore, or very seldom. I work from my memory. It gives me more liberty to create.
I always made surreal works, from the beginning till today. There were some rare exceptions. In the beginning of the 80's I did some "hyper-realist" paintings in the style of Don Eddy or Richard Estes and some "op-art" in the style of Chuck Close. But they are a sort of experience of technical improvement, even if I amused myself a lot doing them.

SP: HOW HAVE YOU HANDLED THE BUSINESS SIDE OF BEING AN ARTIST?
JOSE: Well, the business side of my professional life was always full of surprises for me. I had some periods of great commercial success and some periods where nothing came. It is a mystery to me. Perhaps it is linked to the fact that I am always looking for new things, always changing my goals. The public in general is not prepared for change.
They prefer that you always do the same things, so they are assured, so they can say that they know you and what you do. For example, some people do not understand why I "waste my time" doing graphic novels. They don't understand that I am always doing my work, that everything I do is an extension or a complement of what I did in the past.
But, all in all, I have always been able to survive with my art till today . . . I can't complain. And I always did what really inspires me. You know, we, artists, are here in this world to give, not to receive. To give is important, not the rest.

SP: WHAT OTHER INTERESTS DO YOU HAVE OUTSIDE OF PAINTING?
JOSE: As you have noticed, graphic novels have a very important place in my activities.

SP: WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO AN ARTIST STARTING OUT?
JOSE: I do not know if I have enough authority to give an advice, but if I have absolutely to give one, it is: do what makes you feel happy.

SP: HAVE YOU HAD A RECENT SHOW OR ONE UPCOMING?
JOSE: I am part of a group exhibition of fantastic art that began in Denmark in May, after that it was shown in Germany and now it is in France in the city of Nice till the end of the month. It is called "Venus and the female intuition" and it is organized by the Danish artist and art collector Claus Brusen. It is a very big show!
In the beginning of 2008, I will have a great exhibition about my work on painting and graphic novels, in a cultural center in Toulouse (France).

SP: WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE QUESTION THAT YOU ARE ASKED AS AN ARTIST?
JOSE: I don't know . . . all questions are interesting, especially when you do surrealism. Surrealism is there to incite people to ask questions. Very deep questions.

question from previously featured artist Kristian Adam: WHY DO YOU CREATE?
JOSE: That question is perhaps the hardest to answer. Does any artist really knows why he creates?
For me, to create is as natural as breathing. I always liked to draw and paint and tell stories. I could not live without doing those things. I asked myself many times about this necessity to create... but the answers I gave did not convince me.
Perhaps we creators function like channels: we receive beauty that come to our eyes, to our intelligence (from who? from where? from everywhere surely, it is enough to open our mind. . .) and using our eyes and hands, we give this beauty to the world; transformed in drawings, paintings, writings. We are channels, or, better still, we are tools.
I am not sure about this, but it makes sense to me.

Be sure to visit José's website.
It is very complete. You can see more than 150 paintings, more than 100 drawings and illustrations, and see examples of his graphic novels and books.

Stumble It!