From Venezuela to Australia
AN ARTISTIC RENAISSANCE FOR JORGE GONZÁLEZ
Jorge González is a Venezuelan currently living in Adelaide, Australia, working on his career as a visual artist, trying to empower his forgotten talents after many years hidden from himself and the world.
What materials do you work with?
I usually work with acrylic paint on canvas when I’m painting, and with ink markers, color pencils and/or watercolors when I’m illustrating, although I prefer to apply mixed media on my works.
Do colours have a special meaning for you?
I like to think colours are the alphabet I’m using to communicate with the world, sometimes I find them easier to use than conventional communication. The issue is that colours are not understood by most people, or are they?
Do you prefer painting or drawing?
It’s not an easy question to answer because I love both; each one allows me to express my feelings and ideas on different levels. My ideal piece of artwork would be composed using both of these art expressions, something I am trying to achieve with some of my current experiments.
Is there a political or philosophical message portrayed in your work?
There is no intentional message in my pieces and my expressions in general other than to admire and contemplate beauty, the complexity of details. Maybe if we analyse them from a logical viewpoint, we could say that my mind is fascinated by human intervention on nature (for better or worse) in the case of my “cartographic” pieces, but also in how moods can be translated into colour compositions.
What is the source of your inspiration?
Ever since I was a kid, I had a special attraction to maps and atlas books and dreamed of becoming a cartographer, as well as painter and writer; sadly most people discouraged me from taking that path because they weren't “real professions”, as in the story of The Little Prince. Then adulthood came and took me along a very different and more conventional path… until four years ago when I met a special person who helped me to recover part of my original essence.
Is your work influenced by aboriginal art?
Well, I really appreciate and respect aboriginal art, especially its genuineness. In that sense, there is a bit of influence but not literally. Although, there is a painter called Dorothy Napangardi with whom I became fascinated since I was introduced to her artworks in recent years. She represents her culture very well but also demonstrates to the public a very particular way to work with detail, making a complex composition almost mathematical with simple colours and elements, things I enjoy deeply in a work of art or any other kind of artistic expression.
Where are you from?
I was born and raised in Valencia, Venezuela, and lived there most of my life before deciding to migrate to Australia, 4 years ago.
How do you feel about the current chaos in Venezuela?
Where can I start? It’s not easy to explain my feelings towards that situation. The international community sees only the tip of the iceberg of this socio political mess which my home country has become. I have to confess I get angry every time a lefty from overseas blindly supports the Venezuelan government since Chavez, without having been part of our history or having lived on our soil, living our problems as we have been doing for almost 20 years. Corruption is real, I lived it, it dominates every level of government, and yes, it had been in the country before Chavez and Maduro, but the difference now is that it is barefaced and poisoned by power. Yes, they were elected like in any other democracy, but it’s not a secret that all the elections have been rigged by the government, you can’t trust any institution where corruption is so deep and disseminated that we even do not trust the opposition leaders and their organizations. I seriously invite lefties who admire the current Venezuelan government to migrate to my country, at least for a few months and live like us, with no special treatment or political privileges, with the everyday insecurity, the queue lines, the corruption, walk in our shoes and then we can talk.I’ve never been a political person, neither are my family, we are just people who had believed in hard work and honesty but unfortunately half of my country doesn't think that way. To change and improve this situation we’ll need years, even decades, the awful truth is that Venezuelan society is wounded, forced to repress their moral values, in order to deal with a gang culture armed with resentment against democracy who feel entitled to steal everything you’ve worked for most of your life with your own achievement just because you think differently. I fear for my family and friends, they are frequently in my thoughts, but I can’t do anything about it but pray.
What could the world do to help Venezuelan people in their fight for democracy?
People have to understand that “socialism” will never work, we have plenty of evidence from the past to realise that formula is outdated. The support of the international community has to be unanimous and not of the government but of the Venezuelan people. I do not agree with any intervention that implies force (as does the US, for example), again we have enough experience that shows us it would be a choice which could never have good consequences, same as with politics and economic sanctions, we should be more clever. The media must be unbiased by any political agenda.
How are you finding your new life in Australia?
It has been a roller coaster of emotions, without doubt, a “growing up” experience for sure. Like the song says, “nobody said it was easy”, but I can’t complain, it has given me some rewards that I appreciate a lot: stability, a lovely partner and two feline offsprings I adore, and endless possibilities for my future projects. Aussies are in general an easy going community, and compared to other places including my home country, it’s almost a paradise where everything works and you see where your taxes go, there is a good level of tranquility yet still I find people here complaining about everything. Wow! the famous “first world issues” are real, LOL.
Did you experience culture shock? If so, can you give us an example?
Totally, the shock is inevitable for anyone who decides to migrate, no doubt about it. The way the “aussies” (Australians) use the English language is unique, a very peculiar accent so that still today even after 4 years I have some communication difficulties.
What do you feel is the hardest challenge when one emigrates?
Without a doubt, nostalgia is part of our baggage as soon as we step onto a plane. We just have to deal with it, it's inevitable, we choose if we want it to be a burden or a healthy melancholy.
Can you tell us a little about your next project?
Sure, there are two projects I’m working on right now. One is related to cartography interpreted as impressionism, inspired by satellite imagery collected from the internet, focused on the concept of urban conglomerations, a recurrent subject you can appreciate in my previous work. The other project I am working on is with my partner Vincent Chadwick (who’s also a visual artist), focused on colorist compositions. Of course, there are other projects in mind, like the “mapped portraits” I was doing recently, although at the moment I’m focused on the first two and hopefully this will enable me to participate in the visual arts world sooner rather than later.
FORM-Idea.com Australia, 30th August 2017.
JORGE GONZALEZ ART - INSTAGRAM www.instagram.com/jlgq_art
Contact: jorge.gonzalez79@outlook.com
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