We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jose Lopez Marcos a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jose, thanks for joining us today. Have you been 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? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

According to my parents, at the tender age of three, they caught me decorating their bedroom walls with a lot of drawings, it was a spectacular beginning as an artist and also my first large scale work. Unfortunately, our landlord did not agree and my parents had to paint over all of my drawings, maybe I was too ambitious… or not. Since then, I have no stop moving my home and my studio throughout the world. Because of that I have always thought that having lived in different countries and continents has given me the opportunity to experience very distinct cultures which have highly influenced my ability as an artist.

As a Western artist I am the heir to a rich cultural tradition. Although this is a great value it is not enough to me. I feel an irresistible need to know further about other art movements all over the world. That feeling drove myself to live and travel throughout South Asia. It was just at that time when the ancient ceramic tradition developed in the Far Easter, caught all my being. I took advantage of that exciting time to learn deeply about those ancestral ceramic techniques from China to Japan. Every piece of knowledge I learned put myself in the doorway to porcelain art. It was hard work of researching and experimentation, in order to reach in each and every piece a WORK OF ART. Since then, I have not stopped to develop new porcelain recipes and glazes in order to drive my work forward with new creative ways.

As an sculptor and ceramicist I used to spend a long time about material chemistry and aesthetic conception but I really did not think over my business at all. Nowadays, that is a big mistake for any creator. Fortunately, my wife gave me a crucial advice for my successful career “Think about yourself not just as a great creator but also as a skilled entrepreneur”. My wife drove along the way on how to manage a successful business, from finance to marketing. I would wish to know about it earlier in order to speed up my career as an artist.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a creator of poetry in porcelain! poetry has the quality of music and manages to convey states of the human soul in a beautifully evocative and intense way. This is the concept of my Porcelain art, like poetry, it is freed from forced schemes to then become a pure form of artistic expression. My poetry in porcelain awakens deep emotions and allows us to go beyond reality, to observe things that are not commonly considered, delving deeply into the human heart. My artwork in porcelain serves drives you to think, reflect and imagine. They can be large-scale installations or intimate creations, but they all have the same goal, which is to reach the human soul.

My porcelain artwork is not a conventional ceramic work at all. It was a hard work that began with thoughtful research about porcelain and glaze chemistry to achieve the proper materials to make every astonishing creation. After the laboratory work was done, every ceramic piece was designed in detail, in order to meet the criteria as a whole artwork series. Finally, artist’s mind and hands got together to achieve in each and every porcelain creation a WORK OF ART.

Along my career as a sculptor and ceramicist artist, I learned that hard work is the key to succeed. Because of that, as an artist I have a simple and effective rule of thumb “If you want to become a great master, you have to create a lot works, as much as you can and even when you are tired of doing it, do not stop creating.” I am not a great master yet, but every day I am closer to achieving it.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My creation bring to mind the profound willingness to gaze upon anything at all frees the mind from fixed preconceptions of beauty. Creating, as it were, a free space in which altogether new forms and relationships may emerge. There are no symbols here to confuse you. Just the aesthetic object, to be contemplated for its own sake. I like to ask people to take their time, breathe deeply and let their mind to journey throughout those inspirational creations. At the first glance the whole shape seems cracy; after looking at it closely amazing stories show up before you. Every new journey into the creation will bring to your mind different forms from life itself.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

“Art is not an ordinary job, art is a passion that affects every single time of my life.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lopezmarcos.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joselopezmarcosartist/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lopez.marcos.144
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jose-lopez-marcos-the-poet-of-porcelain-3a3a92132/
• Twitter: https://x.com/LopezMarcos__
• Other: https://lopez-marcos.tumblr.com/