Formidable Magazine. What was your first creative impulse?
M.M. I enjoyed drawing since childhood. As I got older I was interested more drawing and painting, but always in a playful way without any goal or intention. Later I began to look at what other artists had done, to understand and learn from old masters.
F.M. There is some point or experience that made you realize that art would be your way?
M.M. Not really. But there came a time when I did not want to do anything else. I just wanted to paint, and I keep doing it because there is nothing that interests me more.
F.M. How would you define your work?
M.M. My painting is based on figurative image and on narration. In my early work, I tried to build through fragments or tracks a broader story than what the image shows. Lately, I’m more interested in exploring painting’s own issues such as space, light, scale, time.
F.M. Inspirational artists?
M.M. Jorge Diezma, Jose Diaz, Alfredo Rodriguez, Nacho Martín Silva, Santiago Giralda and Kiko Pérez are the artists who have taught me, who I admire and respect for their work and their understanding of art. I also should mention Neo Rauch, Nicola Samori, Herbert Brandl, Pieter Brueguel, Björn Dahlem …
F.M. Did you have a plan for the layout of your studio, or did it develop organically?
M.M. I came to this shared study, with my colleagues Ana de Fontecha, Mar Cubero, Sergio D. Loeda and Nina Paszkowski, in October 2013. I guess the study lay out grew randomly, and gradually we found our place. Yet is an ever changing space and we do change with him as well.
F.M. Would you say your studio setting influences your work?
M.M. I may be limited for the physicality of the space, like to a certain maximum size for pieces. But beyond that, I don’t think so.
F.M. Is the studio just a place for production or also inspiration is inherent to the studio space?
M.M. Both, I usually go to the studio to work, that is, I perform physical tasks, whether painting, prepare material or cleaning up the space. But there are moments to read, write and reflect on what I do. Normally I spend more time looking and thinking than painting.
F.M. How is a day in the life of Miguel Marina?
M.M. I have a three days a week job to make ends meet. The rest of the time I’m to the studio, I usually have breakfast here. I work until noon, like, and continue in the afternoon. I best work in the morning because I do not usually coincide with peers. In the evening I do chores like building canvases, organizing stuff, whatever doesn’t take much concentration.
F.M. Best and worst night out?
M.M. If work on a piece is going smoothly I don’t need much more than a beer in the studio or in a bar in the area. The worst night is usually when the opposite happens, work is not going smoothly and beers just don’t taste the same.
F.M. What do you love and hate about Madrid?
M.M. I like pretty much all about it, traffic kills me though.
F.M. What’s on your play list?
M.M. Nothing, I don’t have a play-list. I worked with the radio on or audio books. But a band I never get tired of listening is Buil to Spill, They are awesome, these days I listen to a lot Daniel Romano, it’s very mellow and I like it.
F.M. Our motto is “A life less ordinary”, what makes life less ordinary?
M.M. One word, painting.
