Interview with artist Ernest Compta Llinas

Ernest Compta Llinàs was born and resides in Barcelona, where he initially trained as an architect. Since 2008, his primary focus has been on painting. Drawing inspiration from music, Ernest paints daily, viewing artistic expression as a vital necessity. Over the years, he has worked with various materials such as charcoal, ink, pastel, and oil, but has gradually favored acrylics on canvas and paper. His evolving style consistently revolves around the theme of portraits.

Ernest’s work captures the vast complexity and emotional depth of the human face, aiming to engage viewers in a dialogue through diverse perspectives. Often, the titles of his works serve as intriguing introductions. Influenced by abstract art and expressionism, Ernest cites Pablo Picasso, Francis Bacon, and Lucian Freud as key references. His art has been exhibited internationally in cities such as New York, San Diego, Milan, Rome, Venice, Cannes, Barcelona, London, Stockholm, and Cali. Ernest has received numerous awards and his work has been featured in esteemed publications including Vogue, Vanity Fair, Revistart, and Revista Spotlight. He has also graced the covers of Jaamzin Creative in Singapore, Top Posters in New York, Figgi Magazine in Milan, and Style Cruze in Los Angeles.

Ernest, your journey as a painter began in 2008, and since then, you have worked with various materials and mediums. Can you share how your artistic style has evolved over the years and why you ultimately chose to focus on acrylics on canvas and paper?

The fact that I have been using acrylics lately is because this material is quick-drying. This allows me to paint in an agile, fast way, and to transmit emotions without too much intervention of technique or a laborious process of superimposing layers of paint that sometimes takes away the intensity of the first strokes of the painting.

You mentioned that music is a significant source of inspiration for your work. Can you elaborate on how music influences your creative process and whether there are particular genres or artists that resonate with you while you paint?

Music is important in my creative process because it helps me to stop thinking. I forget everything and start painting. In this way, reason or self-criticism stop bothering me and I can concentrate only on what the painting asks of me. I don't listen only to a certain style of music or a particular artist. I like jazz and electronic music. Painting with music accompanies me and makes the creative process less solitary.

Your work primarily revolves around the theme of the human face, capturing its complexity through a range of expressions and nuances. What draws you to the subject of portraits, and how do you aim to engage the viewer through your depiction of facial features?

The book was created to make visible a representative part of my work. In it, there are paintings of different sizes, made with different materials, but trying to have an internal coherence and a dialogue between the works. In this way, the reader, in this case the person who looks at the images -since we have prioritized the painting over the text-, can get an impression or a more global vision of my way of expressing emotions through painting. It is said that the face is the mirror of the soul. I am interested in the face of the soul. Or the infinite possibilities that painting can reflect, in my case, turned into that mirror.

Congratulations on the recent publication of your book featuring works from 2008 to 2023. Can you tell us more about the book, the process of selecting the works included, and what you hope readers will take away from this comprehensive collection?

I wanted to make a retrospective selection of works on paper representative of my work, with the purpose of making my career visible up to the present time. The intention is that the viewer connects, through the painting, with some emotion or feeling that he or she has experienced in his or her life.

Your work is influenced by abstract art and expressionism, with references to artists like Picasso, Bacon, and Freud. How have these influences shaped your artistic vision, and how do you feel exhibiting in various cities worldwide has impacted your career and artistic growth?

I don't know in what way these artists have influenced or if they have influenced any of my works. But they are, without a doubt, the ones that have interested me the most at some point in my life. Exhibiting in different places has meant a lot to me: that my painting can connect with very different people, but with something in common, intimate and at the same time universal.

Interview with artist Ernest Compta Llinas

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