Sebastian Mederos
Painting and drawing have been my passion almost since I was born. My class notebooks were full of drawings, I spent all hours inventing forms and characters. I paid no attention to anything other than the lines and contours that came from my overflowing imagination. It is probable that my awakening to art was through my parents, both painters. I grew up in an artistic environment, with an oil smell I would say. Solari, the artist, was my neighbor. He painted in his garage and I went to the workshop. He died for the characters with animal heads. In the workshops of Manolo Lima, Nelson Ramos and Clever Lara I learned a lot, I began to order and give shape to everything that was in my universe. Later I studied drawing in New York. I painted all my life, while creating parallel careers in gastronomy and decoration. I gave away everything, so part of my work is about friends in the places where I lived, New York, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Sydney, Montevideo, Punta del Este. It was scattered but in good hands. I am convinced that at this moment my path is through the figurative. I share what Peter Doig said: “… I never understood what is so conceptual about conceptual art – all painting, in fact, is conceptual. Each picture is an idea. Each picture is the result of a process. … “After my series of characters with animal heads I started reading about David Hockney and I turned to nature. Until then my paintings were of people or characters, but contained within interior spaces. Today, living in the countryside in Punta del Este, I am inspired by the forests and landscapes that surround me. What I enjoy most is the process, from the blank canvas until I finish. I enjoy it because it is a chain, like a trip: painting a mountain I see the sky, painting the sky I see a tree; behind that tree a horizon, and so one thing leads me to the other. Very rarely the first image has to do with the final result. Today I consider myself fortunate because in addition to my own enjoyment, people get hooked on what I do.