Interview
Juan Monte
Juan was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1980 into a family where art was fundamental and creation in many forms was an everyday endeavor. He learned how to use cameras since a very young age and taking pictures was always present as a form of expression. The feeling of curiosity and playfulness in the approach to a camera and its subjects through the eyes of a child has remained in his style since the beginning and so far, he has not lost his sense of wonder every time he looks through the viewfinder to capture a split of a second of that feeling. Most of his early career was developed in central America, doing marketing and advertising for all sorts of products and companies both in video and photography mediums mostly in Nicaragua.
Eventually, Juan had the urge to try something new and change the direction of his career. So, in 2017, he decided to come to Europe and ended up in Belgium. Slowly and steadily, he started to find himself as an artist. Street Photography, portraits and experimental photography are the main mediums of inspiration and thankfully his work has found positive reception in his new homeland. Currently, Juan is based in Turnhout, Belgium where he has an Art Atelier located in Otterstraat 23, DeRuimte VZW; where most of his experimental projects and collaboration with other artists takes place. Here, he produces Digital art pieces, Serigraphy and mixed media works that go hand in hand with his photography production.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I came into the art world through my family from a very young age. In my house there were actors, painters, musicians, writers, filmmakers and so from my earliest memories I was exposed to art, for me it was just normal, later in life I realized that it was not. I never studied art in a formal setting but learning about it was just my everyday activity, something that I have carried throughout my life and it became a way to understand my surroundings and express my inner world. It's kind of funny to think that I never intended to become an artist, it just kind of happened, from humble beginnings as a photographer and filmmaking it just became my profession for the last 18 years. I only started to actually exhibit my work since I came to Belgium in 2017 and my first job was in an art gallery in a little city in the Flemish region called Turnhout. From here, I started to develop my artistic vision and I had the possibility to explore beyond my knowledge in photography and started to bring other techniques into my work, such as serigraph, painting and digital art and that when things started to get interesting, for me and it seems for clients. Now, more and more I continue to keep pushing the boundaries of my knowledge and technique while I continue the search for my own identity as an artist.”
What inspires you?
“Curiosity is my main drive, especially for the human condition, and most of my work drives toward that, to tell stories of my surroundings, the people in it, the characters in it, most of the time when I start a project is not even an idea, is more of a what is that? it might be nothing in the beginning, no more than a single fire fly in the dark woods and just out of curiosity I start the chase for that feeling of discovery and almost childish amazement is what inspires me and in the end the art works that I can produce during and after the chase is just my way to share that feeling with others.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“I think the most present theme in my work would be human activity, people doing things, all kinds of things, in all kinds of settings, from straight forward portraiture to street photography some people or groups of people catch my attention. I want to tell their story and the message; if there is any at all, is about beauty, optimism and to show case that fire fly in the dark woods.”
“Curiosity is my main drive, especially for the human condition.”
How would you describe your work?
“In a way, I would have to say, melancholic. I'm always looking for something through the image and the technique, is a never ending chase of something that I know it will be never there fully form or complete. I can accept that and be at peace but I will always wonder about it, what happened before, what happens next, there is no way to really know, but I can always wonder.”
Which artists influence you most?
“That will be a long list, in the photography side I’m very inspired by the works of Saul Leiter Vivian Maier, Anton Corbijn, Susan Maiselas, Matt Black. Very different styles and approaches both in the technical part and the content of their work, the honesty in the way the tell the stories that goes beyond the equipment and more in the presence of the moment. I'm inspired by painters, my personal favorite is Edward Hopper; his work with light and the cinematic nature of his paintings always capture my attention. While I was looking at this list I encountered that, I'm a little old school. Nevertheless, I like to go to exhibitions, I do enjoy watching artworks live and up close.”
What is your creative process like?
“I will have to say that beginnings are fragile. I usually have a pretty good idea of how I want the piece to be, but I’m usually completely clueless on how to get there. Sometimes, I even make a prototype of something and then I start to experiment, usually it all starts with a photo and then I start to add different techniques and combinations, serigraphy printing, painting, cyanotype combine with watercolor and pencil. I add different mediums, like glass, paper fabrics, in this way I just follow my instincts and that meads me to all sorts of different results.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“I think artist don't have any control over the role we are assigned in society, that comes later in life when historians make and interpretation of what do you want to say and how. What artists do is provoke, since we have always something to say, about our time, the people we know, the world we live in, and is an unstoppable urge to create this dialogue, to say, to show something intimate and honest, with all our neurosis and humor, pains and sorrow, we amplify the things that lurk beneath the surface and bring to the spotlight and that can be anything. We will continue to be that, what is sure thing is that we will always be at the front lines of dialogue and change, we will always provide perspectives and lead the way for new paths for others to follow.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“My recent exhibitions include Expodus, Hofke van Chatreine, oud Turnhout, (2022); Thuis in Turnhout, City project portraits. Turnhout Belgium, (2023) and Decode Gallery, Tucson Arizona, Nocturnal Exhibition, (2023); among others.”
Website: www.juanmonte.com
Instagram: @fotos_mundanas
