O-A. What is art to you?
Erwin Rios: You have to feel art. It’s something that comes from inside, an urge to express something, to let something out … When I have a good day, I get into the flow with painting and everything is fine. But the next day I am dissatisfied and critical. I fall from the top down. Then I have to catch myself, work on myself, build myself up again … It’s like surfing on a board on the waves through ups and downs, that’s painting for me.
O-A. How do you search for inspiration and themes for your work?
Erwin Rios: My topics arise all by themselves. Sometimes I wake up with a feeling, an idea … I see a picture in my inner eye and then I say: that’s it! Then everything develops by itself.
O-A. What do you need to be able to paint?
Erwin Rios: Colors, linen, music and being alone.
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O-A. How are your pictures created?
Erwin Rios: I don’t have a rigid concept. The only thing I want is to somehow bring what is boiling in me on linen. I let myself go, I listen to music, I let my subconscious work. When I look at the works afterwards, I wonder what the subconscious is capable of.
O-A. What would you like to convey to the viewer with your artwork?
Erwin Rios: I don’t like the pictures that are a disturbance to the eye. I use a maximum of three colors that go together and try to achieve a balance. The picture should have a calming effect on the viewer and at the same time it should draw him in. Ideally, a dispute should take place.
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O-A. What messages do you want to send through your pictures?
Erwin Rios: The series “Quo vadis” (Where are you going) deals with a lot of current topics such as racism, equality, refugees … but what is even more important – I see every single person affected and see what is going on in people. This raises questions: What do you want to do with your life, how do you influence the lives of others, how do you deal with yourself and with other people … The Moments series asks similar questions about our environment: How do you deal with nature, which interrelationships arise …
O-A. What names do you give your artworks?
Erwin Rios: I deal with topics that affect me in a variety of ways. Sometimes I make up poems for my pictures. The main idea, the core message is then the name of the picture.
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