MEETING JUAN MANUEL ÁLVAREZ CEBRIÁN

“A painting can change the identity of a space and has thepower to give it an extraordinary and enriching personality.”

Juan Manuel Álvarez Cebrián is a master of technique, and aprolific disciplined artist. He is a tireless painter faithful to thebrushstroke.

In his photo-realistic works; landscapes, animals, and the study of simple shapes and textures take precedence.

Cebrián captures the everyday world from an almost dreamlike vision, using hyperrealism to surrealism and symbolism.

His landscapes, apparently simple, contain a kind of magic realism, and his portraits reveal fascinating personalities.

When did you start to be interested in painting?

I have no memories outside the painting. I was a four-year-old and I was already scribbling on notebooks. I was not afraid to face copying very difficult for my age, although, logically, I failed. Biy by bit I was looking at pictures of painting books and with ten or eleven years I discovered that I was passionate with painting, spent hours and hours drawing.

With 15 years I started buying art and technical books, but perhaps it was the private studio that contributed the most. Having attended the Prado Museum for years to copy classics also contributed greatly.

Where was Juan Manuel Cebrián’s inspiration born?

There is a lot of information that comes to us today through various channels, images that attract your attention. It is a possible starting point but, eventually, when you start to work your most personal “I” appears, whether you like it or not.

Identity sign

What would you say is your trademark?

I spend my life observing how the tonal range is viewed and how the light is reflected, I then try to emulatethis in each of my projects. I obsess about contrast, and perhaps this is mytrademark.

What do you want to communicate with your works?

An artwork is a set of things;It has an initial study that starts from an idea or a vision. Next is the composition, followed by the chromatic range and only then does the paintingbegin to emerge.
From there you propose a composition sacrificing with no mercy about what you think is convenient. Sometimes you start the process with a set intention; at othertimes it just flows almost unconsciously, and the course of an initial idea canbe changed entirely.

You want it to be pleasant, to have strength, to catch. At the end of the process,what you transmit in the piece can be varied and personal depending on the eyes that watch it, but it is a set of intentions.

“I try to make my work pleasing to the eye, but with a strength to it and to capture and move the viewer,” says Cebrián.

A painting does not just a fill a space

What role do you think painting takes in the decoration of a space?

As a qualified painter and an interior designer, I believe paintings do not always have to “match” with the decoration of a room. Unfortunately, many people use art only as a piece of decoration. I believe the painting must be a piece of art onto itself,to add personality and if perfectly located, can transform any space.

Why are the paintings fundamental pieces for home decor?

Paintings have “the power” to change the identity of a space and provide it with anextraordinary and enriching personality. A house with artworks can beindicative of the owner’s sensitivities and appreciation of art.

Juan Manuel Cebrián points out, “A house with artworks can be indicative of the owner’s sensitivities and appreciation of art.”

If you want to have a look Cebrian´s paintings click here.