Here is an important interview for the editorial staff of Justfocus, that of Florencia Jerez, a painter from Tucùman, a city located in Argentina. It is a real favorite for this sensitive woman who manages to transcribe brilliantly everything that inspires her in her daily life.
Florencia Jerez, an artist very influenced by nature
Justfocus: Can you tell us about your beginnings in painting?
Florencia: My beginnings in painting, well, in reality already small I liked to draw with the pencil, I drew the shadows just with the black pencil, I was very focused on the detail. I remember an anecdote my mother told when I went to kindergarten. The teacher had told her that she was surprised by my drawing on the family because I had drawn my mother's earrings when I was only five years old. Ha Ha, the truth is that I don't even remember it but my mother told me about it.
As a teenager, drawing was for me a therapy, I expressed my anxieties or fears through drawings quite realistic but surreal at the same time. It was a bit of a dark time for me and my drawings represented all that. Then I entered the Faculty of Arts in 2009, and when I was 18, my drawings changed a lot. I wanted to show something more positive and not dark, or sad, I started to take a liking to nature, even though already being little, one of the things I liked to draw the most was trees.
Justfocus: How has your evolution in the arts been going?
Florencia: In the Faculty of Arts, I started painting butterflies, other insects, flowers and landscapes. In addition to the basic for a career in art ie the nude, the human figure, which I also liked to do. At that time, I had a tendency for hyperrealism, it surprised me to see these artists who painted as if they were photos but with a pen (like Francisco Casas) or with paint. Anyway, I gave up the career of the arts because I thought it would be too complicated to live from it here in my city. In addition, I got married afterwards. Several years later, when I had to concentrate on my work and my new life as a bride, for me, art continued to be a therapy, when I had insomnia I drew portraits or nudes with Indian ink and pen or with a pen.
In 2014, I had the idea to paint decorative frames in order to sell them, the first one I did was a triptych (frame composed of 3 panels). It had a very realistic look, but over time I started to change to a more artistic brushstroke, without such defined limits, but freer, that you can notice that it was a painting and not a printed image. Then, I returned to the theme of artistic evolution in my painting.
Justfocus: What was your goal in evolving in this particular world?
My initial goal was to go to Tucuman National University for the Bachelor of Fine Arts, but I only did the first year. Then, working directly in the field, I was more self-taught, although the theoretical basis of the first year of the bachelor's degree served me a lot to be more critical and precise in my work. A work oriented on nature, and especially trees.
Justfocus: What themes do you exploit Florencia?
During my surrealist era, I drew half-human, half-nature beings or people caught in trees, or worlds connected to each other through trees. Then I went to flowers mainly because I was looking for beauty, aesthetics.
In addition, I consider that nature is therapeutic in itself, it relaxes you, it connects you with God whom I consider to be its creator. In this hectic life that we have especially in cities, without contact with nature, having a painting that reflects a natural landscape or plants is a way to put a little nature in the home without human intervention.
Justfocus: What are your customers' demands?
Most of the paintings my clients ask me for are landscapes and sometimes animals. I started painting mainly out of economic need, because of this, I did not paint pictures that are entirely of my inspiration. They were conditioned by the customer's requirement. Even today, I sometimes give advice to clients about decoration but they are the ones who choose the color they want for their room, if they want abstract, landscapes or flowers. Anyway, with decorative art, I consider that it is impossible not to transmit a part of myself through painting , brushstrokes, lines and the use of colors… I know there will always be something of me in the paintings.
That's why, every time I paint, I have to put myself in an artistic mood, I can't paint in a bad mood. In order to achieve this, I have to listen to music that inspires me, for example.
Florencia Jerez's objectives
Justfocus: If you could tell us a bit about your inspirations… and your goals for the future
Speaking of inspiration, nature and music inspire me a lot. I feel that it stimulates my artistic sensibility and regarding the evolution of my works, what I want to do most now is a series of more personal paintings to exhibit, something different from the decorative paintings I am used to doing. They would be more abstract and in a large format.
This is what I think I will do for the future, I would like to continue working with my decorative line but at the same time have my personal exhibition line.
Justfocus: Is it easy for a woman to evolve as an artist in Argentina?
With regard to the position of women in Argentina, it is currently unfavourable compared to that of men, as in a large part of the country, especially culturally and socially. In the art world this is not so much the case, but in the business world, yes.
We thank Florencia Jerez for her availability. To follow his work on a daily basis, you can consult his Facebook page or his artistic instagram.
