STUDIO VISIT | PABLO DIAZ

Pablo Diaz Benzo was one of the first people for me to meet in Berlin. When I first met him I had just moved to Berlin, and I still had that ”No one expects me, but everything awaits me”-feeling, which made me curious yet a bit lonesome when being in such a big city with approximately only one great friend on my hand. Luckily Pablo changed that.

With our developing friendship and throughout our conversations I soon learned that he was a man of many experiences, adventures and that he possessed his own inspiring way of looking upon humanity and life. I had the delight of seeing this clearly reflected in his art when I was visiting him in his atelier. Pablo’s colorful paintings gave life to the bare white walls creating the right setting for a creative working space. The atelier was filled with both eclectic music and eclectic paintings of Pablo’s, presenting his wide taste in music from classical to rock plus the additional many different shapes and colors in his paintings. However, these different shapes and colors form an extremely shared expression of his style, thoughts and ideas.

Who are you, where do you come from and what do you do?
I am a human named Pablo and I was born in Santiago, Chile. I like to do a lot of things including illustrations, paintings and graffiti. I’ve worked as a freelance illustrator, which doesn’t mean that I only do things related to the image field, but that’s mainly what I do.

How would you describe/define your work?
To define it is impossible for me. Definitions only work for the time it was made and become obsolete in the next; things, people and everything is constantly changing. The point is: what does it mean to you? How does it make you feel and think? I like to imagine my work as if telling stories through shapes and colors. I like it when these different elements remind you of something, working as memories, as sounds or even smells. For instance I always use light colors. I don’t know why. I just use them and could probably find a thousand explanations to why. Someday I could paint everything dark and it would still be a part of my way to do it.

I could say that it is constant. I like objects and situations. I don’t like the literal. However, I like the literal mixed with something else. I like comparisons, metaphors and associations. I like for people to interpret and generate new ideas from the images.

What are you working on at the moment?
After the opening of my current exhibition I will be working on a new series of prints. I’m planning to use 3 different techniques to make 3 series; screen printing, riso and linocut. I will probably make an open studio next month to sell and show this new work.

Where do you work?
I’m working in a little atelier in Kottbusser Damm here in Berlin. I’m sharing this space with two other artists; one from Argentina and one from Chile like myself. It’s a quite new space for us to work in.

How do you work? (Describe your working progress)
I work with different mediums in which I have a similar but different process at the same time. Each one has specific features, either by the technical condition or the mood that each deliver. I like to think that I’m constantly working, even when I’m not standing in front of a canvas. I work by thinking or discovering things through observation, different experiences and adventures that touches my life. Technically speaking, I know I have an established method, but this doesn’t certainly mean that it will not change or improve. So I guess the most important method is to maintain the curiosity and motivation to keep looking around.

What do you find as the best thing about art?
I am far from knowing what’s best in art. I like people who have things clear and make decisions, but I also believe that you don’t need to choose a single aspect. I like both classical music and punk. I like to make things work differently for each person; it’s something about freedom and transformation.

How has your art developed through the years?
I guess with the passage of time I can represent better what I have in my imagination, thoughts and feelings. I have always been certain that the only way to do it is to keep working and then time will show you things you never imagined before.

Has Berlin, compared to Chile, changed your style/art and inspiration?
I’m not certain whether the city has or hasn’t changed my style. But I guess that the city, somehow, makes me different. Different in the way it makes me feel, see, live or whatever. Obviously external factors produce certain influences; sometimes in unsuspected ways. It is difficult to know exactly how the place, where a story takes place, can cause changes in character.

Do you ever find it hard to believe in your self as an artist in this huge art city of Berlin?
Never. It’s quite the opposite. Except the complex mental equations that will always be present and make me believe otherwise.

Visit Pablo's website for a closer look on his works.