Today we’d like to introduce you to Julio Batista.
Hi Julio, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Cuba, La Habana, belong to the 80’s, generation X, analog and digital, rock, love, rockets, war and good films.
Been studied arts since 1991 at my 11 years old and graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts “San Alejandro” Cuba in July of 1999. Later that year I start working at the National Museum of Fine Arts in La Habana, like Art Conservator. Serve 2 years like a firefighter and in 2004 continue my studies at ISA in LA Habana in the Art Conservation speciality while I was working like Art Conservator at CENCREM in Cuba.
Came to America in the 2008 before my graduation from ISA.
I have been working in different concepts, styles and medias, experimenting, looking for a product that fulfill me.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
As a person born in a dictatorship such as Cuba, facing communism and racism along the way of my life- it has not really been easy. I’ve had to experiment with materials for my art that weren’t exactly ideal, immigrating outside my country as a young adult to a place where I didn’t know the language as much as needed was definitely a big obstacle in my life. Though, my struggles gave me motivation to give my family the life I wish I could’ve had, one without oppression, one where they didn’t need to worry about communism. In the end, everything that happened made me be able to have inspiration I could’ve never had without such experiences. I express these through my art and paintings alike.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m an artist and author who works mostly with symbolism, my paintings and book trilogy resemble the psychological and emotional consequences of memory, displacement, and constructed identity. Which rooted directly from my experiences as a cuban immigrant, my use of symbolic figures such as my character Hammerhead which represents emotional captivity and ideology. My work employs imagery that fracture reality- objects like cages, nails, flags, and maps recur as symbols of construction and destruction.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
My parents, my daughters, my son, and my beautiful wife have taught me life lessons throughout my life.
Pricing:
- My paintings go for 500$ USD and up
- My book trilogy goes for 20$ USD per book
- My poetry book goes for 20$ USD
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jbartgallerystudio.wixsite.com/hammerhead/about
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/hammerheadartstudio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julio.batista.622221
