"I think big cities is a great way to explore your creativity. I love traveling and collect memories that I can later recreate in my artworks. I encourage everyone to experiment with new colors and texture"
Childhood and early years
Sergio was born in Kyiv; his father is Spanish and mom is Ukrainian. Since childhood parents brought Sergio to their trips. “They are people who never sit still. We went to a backpack trip once, I was 10 then and I hardly remember anything. I just know it was beautiful.” Sergio`s father was a musician and the boy often spent time with his dad on concerts. Besides, his dad was a big fan of modern art, he told a lot to his son about the history of art and even introduced him to the local Spanish and Ukrainian modern artists. Initially Sergio wanted to follow his father`s steps and learned to play the piano. “I imagined myself on a stage then, and I knew that I would never sit in the boring office to earn money for living. I remember as a child I made performances for my family and neighbors, kinda concerts when people just gathered in the yard of our house and enjoyed their time when listen to the melodies I played on piano.”
It was just one stage in his life, and then something changed in his outlook after all the trips. “I remember this time accurately. We started our travel from Spain than traveled around the Europe and ended up in the USA. I remember Grand Canyon and those tall buildings in NYC, everything looked so grandiose and huge, I was 15 then and I can say that as a teenager I lost my mind in these places. All these emotions hit me and after our returning I asked my dad to buy art tools to me. I chose watercolor and canvas and started to paint these tall skyscrapers I saw in NYC. One of my favorite artworks COLOR SENSATIONS is based on one of my earliest paintings. And it reflects the way a big and crowded city looks in imagination of a little child. The painting IN MY MIND also recreates my feelings and overwhelming state of mind after a long trip.
University years
When Sergio turned 17 he entered Art university in Kyiv. “What I remember about the university is that I didn`t like their way of teaching, I didn`t want my mind to be restricted by the rules of classic art, that`s why I tried my best to create abstract painting in a spare time. My favorite lesson was the History of Art. I still remember the professor who was a big fan of what he did and his eyes were sparkling when he showed us each new presentation about an artist or a school of art.”
Sergio was stubborn and tried to protest against the university rules, as he believed that so many talents can fade away, if they are burdened with academism. “He always had the things his own way, we all got used to his behavior at the end of the day, and also we all knew that it was something right about his protest. Some professors who strongly prefer classic art could not accept Sergio`s point, and they were sincerely surprised that this rebel managed to finish the university, but others knew that he bore something unique in his outlook” – says one of his professors
The huge influence of animals on art Sergio has a big heart as well, as a university student he started to donate money to local animal shelters, often visited those poor animals and started his own page on Facebook which was devoted to the topic of “giving home to abandoned animals”. Some of his current artworks depict the animals (mostly dog) at the exact moment they got to know that they were adopted.
“People contacted me via Facebook and arranged the day to come to the shelter to adopt a dog or a cat. I came there as well with my sketchbook and did a small sketch at the exact moment when the animal left its cage to enjoy free life full of love and care. I sold those artworks and sent the earned money for charity, to animals shelters mostly. Sometimes I even visited the people who adopted an animal from a shelter, in 1-2 month after adoption and again made the paintings of these happy and carefree animals who knew that all their problems and stress were behind. I still use the images of animals in my paintings and I love playing with colors. The idea is to show the animal and a range of emotions it feels at the moment of getting a new family. I could really see all these colors in their eyes which I use in my animal paintings. After this my idea of selling artworks to give the earned money for charity, I realized that the art can also be kind.” Sergio has always tried to share emotions rather than pictures on canvas. That`s why he tries to recreate real feelings of real people or animals on the canvas.
Exhibitions and events
2016 - Plein Air in Art Village (Artyuhivka, Kharkiv region, Ukraine).
2017 - Art Residence within Cinemaway fest ( Zhovkva, Lviv region, Ukraine).
2017 - Members of National Union of Artists of Ukraine.
2018 - Social eco project within Ukrainian Fashion Bazaar.
2018 - Open contest in painting "Silver Easel (autumn)" (Uzhhorod, Khust, Transcarpathian region, Ukraine).
2018 - All-Ukrainian contest in painting "Clarity".
2019 - Art Twins Unity project. Leonid Kuchma Presidential Foundation Ukraine. Museum of Ukrainian Culture Outstanding Personalities (Kyiv, Ukraine).
2019 - Art Twins Message project. Leonid Kuchma Presidential Foundation Ukraine. Taras
Shevchenko National Museum (Kyiv, Ukraine).
2019 - Plein Air in Art Village (Artyuhivka, Kharkiv region, Ukraine).
2020 - Plein Air in Carpathian region (Ukraine).
2019-2020 - All-Ukrainian Art Exhibition "Charming and eternal", National Union
of Artists of Ukraine, Kharkiv.
