GUILLERMO LORCA
An Exclusive Interview
By Ariel SU
Guillermo Lorca García Huidobro is a well-renowned painter of classical oil. Early paintings have been successfully exposed and sold through important art exhibitions, including The Asprey Exhibition in London and the exhibition “The eternal life” in the most important museum in Chile. These days, he’s collaborating with the famous actioner Simon de Pury, art galleries, and museums, most of which are concentrated in Europe.
Currently exposing in the MOCO Museum in Barcelona, Spain. Lorca García Huidobro is represented by PULPO Gallery.
Guillermo Lorca García Huidobro born in Santiago De Chile, in 1984.
Since 2007, Lorca’s work has been exhibited globally in many solos and group exhibitions, including at the National Museum of Fine Arts in 2017 Santiago de Chile, a solo exhibition at Asprey managed by Simon de Pury, London in 2019, and at the PULPO Gallery in 2021, among others.
Lorac’s work is currently displayed at the MOCO Museum in Barcelona, Spain, in a solo exhibition presenting recent large-scale paintings. The exhibition was curated by Simon de Pury, a legendary auctioneer, art dealer, and one of the leading figures in the art world. Mixing magic and realism, the young Chilean artist creates large-scale oil paintings full of surreal narratives and dreamlike sequences. Within each of his drama-filled scenes, there is a dark balance of power and competition between nature and humankind.
It is a pleasure to feature such a unique artist and artistic style dedicated to the romanticism and illusionistic world, influenced by the Renaissance Masters and presenting an extremely high-quality technique.
Oil on canvas,180 x 300 cm.
An Exclusive Interview With
GUILLERMO LORCA
By Ariel SU
Oil on canvas. 150 x 210 cm.
Art Market Magazine:
Thank you, Guillermo, for this interview. We were fascinated by your beautiful and unique art! Let’s start with your passion for art. When did you start feeling the desire for art and creating art?
Guillermo Lorca: Since my earliest memories, I have always loved drawing and losing myself in my imagination. My mother painted as a hobby, and I remember that I was very excited to see the process, the smell of the paintings, and the feeling of calm; it was a very comforting mental place. Indeed, there were several art books in my house that I liked to look at that transported me to other times without understanding what they meant; I simply let myself be carried away by the sensation that some works produced in me.
Art Market Magazine: Your work can be described as romantic, dynamic, and extremely powerful with a mysterious atmosphere. Where did this unique artistic style come from? How did it develop, and is it based on mythology?
Guillermo Lorca: I think it’s because I’ve had moments in my life where I’ve been able to connect with a profound part of myself. It is not recurrent; it happens to me occasionally, but I learned to recognize which images are related to that remote place in my brain. Then, from these images, I create the works.
Oil on canvas. 200 x 360 cm.
Art Market Magazine: Where did this high realism technique come from? You studied art at the Catholic University in Chile. Did you focus primarily on realism and hyperrealism in your studies?
Guillermo Lorca: I studied at the university, but I was never satisfied with the type of teaching; it did not suit my goals, so I never finished university. Instead, I learned the first techniques with a couple of months of private lessons and the vast majority by myself. Luckily I had an excellent book by Velázquez, with many close-ups of the works, which helped me in the process. Then I spent a semester as an apprentice to the Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum, and this experience contributed profoundly to my technique level and my artistic style’s development.
Art Market Magazine: Your work is significantly influenced by the Renaissance Masters, from both the idea and technique aspects. You also combine quotes and symbolism of these Masters. Which artists have most influenced your artistic style?
Guillermo Lorca: Yes, I am definitely influenced by the Renaissance and what would be the Renaissance of the Low Countries and surroundings, something closer to a late Gothic than the Italian Renaissance. The artists who most influenced my work, the old masters, are Rubens, Velazquez, Tiepolo, Caravaggio, and Rembrandt, among many others. I have a considerable list classified by periods of art history.
Oil on canvas. 140 x 110 cm.
Art Market Magazine: The legendary world you have created usually combines animals and soft children.
Did you make a mythical world to preserve your own childhood? What is the animals’ symbolic role in your painting?
Guillermo Lorca: I don’t know if the ultimate goal is to preserve something from my childhood; maybe it is. There are some kinds of sensations that I felt more during that stage which I want to maintain. Animals can represent many things depending on the painting. I don’t like the idea that the symbol is closed and has only one meaning determined by me. I prefer to suggest to the viewer that each person will scratch their own symbolic puzzle. Anyway, as an anecdote, I could say that animals represent for me different internal drives that interact with each other in a kind of controlled chaos.
Art Market Magazine: You usually work on Large scale paintings. For example, Your work EL NACIMIENTO DE VENUS, 2021, which detail of the painting was featured on the cover of Art Market Magazine August 2021 issue #62, is 200 x 360 cm. What is the importance of a large-scale canvas? Does the large-scale artwork sometimes limit the buyers?
Guillermo Lorca:
Large-scale painting is a problem in general. It would be easier and more lucrative to make a smaller format, but I have a fixation on the interaction of 1 to 1 with the viewer concerning scale. I feel a special relationship is created between the spectator and the work with that scale. I don’t always paint such large paintings, the composition I have in mind is the one that rules, and they used to ask me for a large format, but if more elements are not necessary for the composition, I do a small painting.
Oil on canvas. 260 x 210 cm
Art Market Magazine: For how long are you working on each painting? Is there a long preparation process from the idea step until you start painting?
Guillermo Lorca: There is a very long process before painting. First, I identify several images I have saved or taken notes associated with a specific sensation that motivates me to paint. Then I start a game of trial and error until I achieve something that convinces me on a compositional level.
After that stage, I look for models, textures, etc., as a reference to paint. This follows by painting without much difference from how the painters used to paint hundreds of years ago. It’s hard to say how long it takes me to do them since I always work with more than one at a time, and unfortunately, it depends a lot on my mood; I go through significantly more productive periods than others.
Art Market Magazine: You are a very young artist and have already gained success worldwide. Exhibited solo exhibitions, your work is now presented in a solo exhibition at the MOCO Museum, Barcelona. Most artists struggle most of their life to receive such respectable exposure. How does it feel to be a successful artist at such a young age? What is your goal for the future?
Guillermo Lorca: My goals depend on the day. I need to advance in my personal path of wisdom to be calm about it. Some days give me a lot of euphoria, others in which I don’t feel satisfied, others in which I realize how privileged I am, and others when I am paranoid-catastrophic. Luckily I learned to make my decisions in the most rational way possible without letting myself go through emotional ups and downs.
Regarding future goals, I would love to achieve the appropriate organization (and paintings enough) to have a traveling exhibition in different parts of the world. And at the same time, I take advantage of experiencing new things.
Oil on canvas. 200 x 360 cm.
Art Market Magazine: In the past two years, you have entered the NFT field and started selling NFT reproductions of details of your work. For example, “The Eternal Life” is based on a detail of one of your paintings featured in the National Museum of Fine Art collection in Chile. How would you describe the NFT market from your point of view?
Guillermo Lorca: I think that NFTs are a new form of relationship between the artist and the collector and what can be collectible; the latter is a great novelty, and many things that were difficult to purchase are now possible. This can create more incentive for one type of art than another, and it is interesting to see the possibilities it provides.
I am still in an exploration stage in this regard, with some very nice projects and wanting to see how they develop;
I find it very interesting.
Art Market Magazine: What the future holds?
Where can we expect to see your art in the upcoming years? Any future exhibitions scheduled in galleries and art fairs?
Guillermo Lorca: I am in a creation period, so a future exhibition will take a while. I hope to have the calendar defined with all scheduled exhibitions quickly, but there could be different paths depending on my choice. So today, I can not advance anything.
