O-A: What is art to you? Is creating an urge, necessity or maybe an incontournable, essential way of life?
Sousa Blanch: Art has always been a need to me, long before I even knew the meaning of the word or its existance. It is both a way to communicate with other people and with my inner self. Drawing and painting are, before anything else a way of thinking. It is a process that brings the opportunity to understand better the world we live in.
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O-A: What wouldn’t you do without art? What did you discover, achieve with it?
Sousa Blanch: I’ve been drawing since I have memory and never stopped. It has been always part of my identity as an individual and the thing most identifies me. Art has been a doorway to all other forms of culture and I conceive it as a nexus of all areas of knowledge I’m interested in. Most of the things that surrounds me become meaningful throughout art.
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O-A: Who or what inspired you artistically; a person, artist, event, experience…
Sousa Blanch: There is a long list and it depends on the moment but all the avant-garde are inspirational to me. It was an exceptional moment where thinking out the box became the usual thing and it gave the artists and the society a whole new point of view, they push the limits and are the mother of modern art. More recently I’ve been really interested in everything involving abstract expressionism. Rothko is probably the painting in front of I experienced the most deep feelings. Also Picasso, who was permanently changing and is a permanent reference in some aspects.
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O-A: How do you search for inspiration and themes for your work?
Sousa Blanch: I’m using basically Instagram. It’s a huge window to the things we (artists) are doing nowadays. I know there are all the algorithms working back there, but it is still a great way to know what’s going on. I discovered a lot of interesting artists both emerging and established. Just few years ago it was quite difficult to show your work to the world. You just need a smartphone and a work to believe in to do it now!
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O-A: What names do you give your artworks?
Sousa Blanch: Naming my works it has never been an easy thing to do, but eventually a tittle comes to you as you have been thinking and working about some concepts or feelings for some hours, days, years. Most of the times I start drawing or painting without being sure about what I’m going to talk about. It reveals itself during the process, allowing you to understand what has been happening there, during all the time. So if I just think a word or phrase that suits the piece or serie when finished I keep it as a title; it can not be just a coincidence.
