Where my hands take me: interviewing visual artist Rosa Ramírez

Exploring the boundaries of different media, I transition from still photography to video art and illustration transforming each of my projects into a multi-layered investigation of memory and personal experiences, riddled with references of traditional and contemporary artists.

Fascinated by cinema and analog techniques for creating images and their way of using different formulas to explore key compositional elements, texture, and color, I wade through notions of digitalization and materiality experimenting with different aesthetics and having spontaneity as a point in favor. Actually, I believe it is great being subject to chance since I find new ways of facing the problems that may flourish and this enriches the whole creative process and results."

That’s how Spanish visual artist Rosa Ramírez defines herself. At 22 years old, she is studying Fine Arts after she studied Audiovisual Communication for a year and spent some time abroad at De Monfort University in Leicester.

Is there a specific moment in your life that you can pinpoint as the one that led you to the art world?

I feel like the year I studied Communications was decisive, because I have always been passionate about cinema and Fine Arts, and I was struggling to decide. The thing is maybe I needed an approach focused on working with your hands, and within the Communications, they did not give ourselves as much liberty as in Fine Arts. Fortunately, I have been able to do both things: video and cinema inside of the Fine Arts world, pivoting towards installations, a rather forgotten artistic aspect.

How would you define your creative process?

I consider myself a restless person, that’s why I almost always have an idea in my mind about what I want to do. For instance, if I see something I can take advantage of, I photograph it. I’m also accustomed to carrying a notebook so I can sketch even if I’m in the middle of the street.

The creative process, sadly, comes with a lot of mental blocks; to ease that I perform mental exercises. I consider what I want to do at a certain moment and how can I achieve it. In that sense, I brainstorm and read constantly as a way of training the mind. Sometimes, settling for the reality we live in is not enough. Cinema also helps with this, but in the end, you are actually seeing something and every so often the mental stimulus is necessary, something fundamental for the artwork’s appeal.

Let’s talk inspirations.

I have many sources of inspiration since I like to take things from daily life and then extrapolate them. Nevertheless, it’s obvious that after consuming so much cinema and photography I incorporate that into my work. I’m a nouvelle vague absolute fan and I also drink from movements like fauvism, with that brutal color explosion. Impressionism interests me as well, especially the new perspective they brought regarding image framing.

You studied during a semester at Leicester, even though it got interrupted by the pandemic. What did you get from that experience?

Studying at Leicester was wonderful. Here [in Spain] the Fine Arts are considered in a much more traditional way. You get strokes about “the outside world”, but don’t go deeper. There are aspects like the installations I previously mentioned that are not contemplated for study here, and in Leicester, I was able to get in contact with them. You discover new authors because in Seville contemporary topics are not that relevant.

The praxis is also different in England, they give you more freedom, they are riskier. I worked with a more experimental approach. For instance, I took my film camera and went for walks. If I happened to find “weird lights”, instead of photographing the matter, I was interested in abstraction.

Where do you dream of exhibiting your work?

It’s going to sound so cliche, but the MET (laughs). I love the TATE, too, where contemporary art is a majority. In the end they are international museums, therefore a referent. It would be an honor to share a room with renowned artists. In Spain, both Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid and Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao appeal to me.

Who would you love to collaborate with?

David Hockney, I adore him. It’s a referent because I feel like he has done everything in life. He started painting, but despite his age has worked even with iPads. As an artist, he can find color everywhere, literally and metaphorically. The thing is, I’m a big fan of people who have already passed away (laughs).

Very well then. Who would you love to collaborate with if they were alive?

Here I would get into cinema. I would say Truffaut or directors who are very old, like Godard or Lynch. Hitchcock as well, of course, despite him being a man of his time. They were innovative artists, and the new generations follow their lead.

I’m also fascinated by performance. Artists like Marina Abramović, a person whose work makes you so uncomfortable that you think “I want to be there, with you”. Not everybody can say that. You can find Rosa on instagram at @petitesoldat.