We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alejandro Pantin gil. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alejandro below.

Alejandro, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I’ve never imagined been able to live out of a hobby that I was starting from recollecting obsolete books from the street and turning them into art pieces. One day I had a viral video in Reddit just at the start of the quarantine. I had over 1000 messages asking for purchases, and it caught me off guard. I had to filter all messages to possible sales and ended up selling 11 pieces in that year. To the day I’ve sold over 45 pieces. It was so unexpected and amazing feeling that somebody liked my art enough to spend money and let me be part of their life through a manifestation of art.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

As a sculptor, my work focuses on transforming discarded books, those whose information has become obsolete, into unique pieces of art. Through recycling, I give new life to these forgotten pages, exploring the intersection between literature and sculpture. I am interested in exploring the book as a medium and its expressive possibilities through three-dimensionality. I use a topographic technique borrowed from architecture, creating hand-cut curved sections in the pages that, through layers, recreate anatomical forms reminiscent of Greco-Roman female figures, bringing volumes to life.
Furthermore, the work presents a two-way intervention between the sculpted object and the way the content of its pages, colors, and paragraphs interacts with the artwork, challenging the traditionally understood book format, adding to and enriching its final appearance.
Finally, by delving into discarded books, I seek to question our relationship with information and technology in the digital age. By rescuing obsolete books and turning them into artistic objects, I reflect on the transience of information and the importance of preserving and appreciating traditional means of communication in an increasingly digitized world.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being my own boss and working with my own terms and time is the most rewarding thing about this project. In past work experiences I’ve had, I learned that when a boss is demanding an specific outcome and with a short deadline, my creativity seems to be damaged by pression and a result that I’m not comfortable with, so doing my own thing with my own principles and demandings is the best thing I could ask for.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Creativity is something that you cannot force. The thing I learned that help me the most was having a passion project, or a hobby, while working on a job that paid the bills but let me dedicate at least 15 minutes a day in this side passion project, without expecting anything in return, and only when you are inspired, not forcing creativity, just happy with the process and results. That let me to spend more time every day on this project just because I wanted to, and eventually quit the job I was not enjoying as much and live out this passion project of my own.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pantingil.art
• Instagram: @pantingil.art
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alejandro.pantin
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandro-pantin/
• Youtube: @alejandropantingilart8

Image Credits
Alejandro Pantin Coni Feras Alex Nowiczewski