Jaime Velázquez: "With my works, I reveal a system that will explode on its own."

Full name: Jaime Velázquez Sánchez. Place and date of birth: Cadiz, April 29, 1987, although I have always lived in El Puerto de Santa María. Current residence: La Línea de la Concepción. Education: Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Santa Isabel de Hungría Faculty, Seville, 2014. Specialization in Engraving, Screen Printing and Graphic Design. Master's degree in Heritage, Archaeology and Maritime History from the University of Cadiz, 2019. Current occupation: Artist.

What interests you? I play at harmonizing, making sense of, and explaining, through my ideas, the world around us, in which the randomness of the cold algorithms that constantly shape our lives plays an important role. I reflect our context and time through everyday characters and scenes that we overlook and even avoid. I force us to look and reflect on underlying issues such as war, gentrification, immigration, and social injustice in all its forms. And I highlight collective memory, exposing a system that is collapsing on its own.

Where it comes from. My first solo exhibition was in Gibraltar in 2018, at the Fine Arts Gallery, part of the Gibraltar government, where I showed my first exhibition project, entitled 'Emovere'. That same year, I was awarded first prize in the Gibraltar International Competition, and from there, I was offered the exhibition. I seem to recall being the first Spanish artist to have a solo exhibition there. I hold Gibraltar, its citizens, and its leaders in high regard because that's where I took my first steps in this world.

The following year, I was invited to participate in "Being Here," a group exhibition organized by the Provincial Council of Cádiz with María Cristina Sánchez Nieto as curator. The exhibition was held at the Provincial Palace of the Provincial Council of Cádiz , where I had the pleasure of working alongside great artists such as Fuentesal & Arenillas, Christian Lagata, Silvia Lermo, Berta Llonch, María Melero, Cristina Mejías, Patricia Rivero, and Curro Rodríguez. I exhibited a selection of works and created a mural portrait of a well-known man from El Puerto de Santa María, Paco Poa, which the Provincial Council still houses, and which I recently saw at the palace.

In 2022, I held my second solo exhibition with the Cádiz Provincial Council and the El Puerto de Santa María City Council at the Sala Alfonso X El Sabio, where I showcased the 'Bezoar' project with Celia Moro Peruyera, who was the curator. It was quite gratifying because it was the first time I showed my work in the city where I spent my childhood and where I grew as a person. Working with Celia only made me advance in knowledge and experiences, and I thank her every time I have the opportunity.

In 2023, I moved the "Bezoar" project to the Manolo Alés gallery in La Línea de la Concepción, where I used to live and where I currently reside. I incorporated new works into the project and selected some that I had shown in the previous one. This exhibition had a great symbolic meaning because the people of La Línea, both Macarena Alés and local artists Javier Plata and Yeyo Argüez, were dedicated to its success.

In 2024, I received the best news yet: I was represented by the Isolina Arbulu Gallery as an artist. I exhibited my first solo exhibition as a professional. I showed the project "Transcending the Shadows." It was a unique moment I'd long dreamed of, one I knew would come, but one that took a lot of effort, work, and dedication. My entire career has been rewarding, and I didn't believe that feeling of joy and well-being could be surpassed within oneself, but I was wrong. From the moment I started with Isolina, everything has doubled.

I participated in the Estampa fair two consecutive years in 2024 and 2025, days I dreamed of and that will forever be remembered. The culmination of all this was my last solo exhibition, this year in 2025, at the Rivadavia Hall of the Cádiz Provincial Council, thanks to Paco Mármol, where I exhibited the project "A Game of Gods." With this event, I put the icing on the cake of a personal dream I'd had since I picked up my paintbrushes: exhibiting in my home, with my people, and, to top it all off, in the most important exhibition hall in the province of Cádiz, where great internationally known artists have performed, some of whom I consider my role models, like Paco Pomet. It's been the best.

Everything that's happened to me so far has been incredible. In a way, ever since I started in this tremendously complicated world, I perfectly envisioned that, step by step, and with hard work, all the thoughts and dreams I'd had since I decided to dedicate my life to the arts would come true. The first time I told my family I wanted to be a painter, they threw their hands up in horror; they thought I was crazy. All they could think about was finding me a steady job here or there, which I flatly rejected. Even so, here I am. Life never ceases to surprise me and teach me lessons day in and day out. Everything that's happened to me hasn't been inspiration or luck; it's perseverance, hard work, and, above all, meeting good and wonderful people along the way who have helped me both personally and professionally. My family, wife, and daughters have been very important along my path. Without them, nothing would have been possible.

He knew he would dedicate himself to art… As a child, I was drawn to drawing. I loved Goku cartoons and tried to draw them, although I was always very strict with myself and almost always ended up crumpled into a ball of paper. That drawing fever would come over me from time to time, and then, as I got older, I forgot about it. I've always been very handy; I love making, creating, and fixing things. As a child, I did many things with my uncle: working in the garden, making an in-ground pond for the fish, building a masonry oven... We made and flew kites.

In the summer of 2004, at the age of 17, in a small room my father had in his house, with little space and dim artificial light, I grabbed a board and a briefcase of Goya oil paintings that someone gave me for Christmas. I painted a portrait of my sister on that plywood panel without any general knowledge of painting, which unfortunately I no longer possess. The final result was quite good, but the best part, without a doubt, was having discovered the greatest drug on this planet: paint. That day I realized that with objects as simple as a brush, pigments, and linseed oil, I could build and tell a story of a world. From that moment on, I decided to be a painter and dedicate my life exclusively to creating. That year, I enrolled in the art baccalaureate program and later entered the Faculty of Fine Arts in Seville . May it continue for many more years.

What's the strangest thing you've had to do in the art world to "survive"? For me, the strangest thing is making a living from art. What doesn't seem so strange to me is having to work elsewhere to be able to create, paint, pay for your studio, your expenses—in other words, everything that comes with wanting to create and paying the cost of living.

One thing I remember, and always talked about with my college friends, was that even if we didn't belong to a professional guild or earn money from our artwork, we would always create art, even if we had to work at McDonald's. And that's been the case for quite some time.

I do remember having everything planned out. I'd start a new job, like a delivery driver at Burger King, a gardener, or at a land fencing company. From day one, I was organizing when I should and could leave work, have some savings, and get going so I could do whatever exhibition was coming up. I'd leave work straight to the studio and work until the wee hours of the night, with all that entails. The time you devote to one thing, you have to take away from another (family). Luckily, I was always clear, and my bosses pretended to understand, although I always thought they'd think of me: "This kid, he's leaving work to paint pictures? What kind of world does he think he lives in?"

Your "virtual" self. A couple of months ago, I created a new website with a blog. I started by explaining my life and experiences from the beginning. Basically, I'm doing the same thing you asked me in the interview, but on the blog. My idea is to share my experience in painting and the art world so that people who want to start painting and understand this wonderful world can read the blog and learn from the experiences I've had. I'm working hard, but right now I don't have time to do anything other than go to the studio and paint like crazy. This year is full of new things, and in November, I'm opening a solo exhibition at Isolina Arbulu.

I've been using Instagram for a while now as a dossier or first contact with the art world. I'm connected there daily, and whenever I can, I post things from the studio, my paintings, my processes, and everything related to my daily life. I have Facebook and Threads directly connected to IG, and they update automatically. I don't usually visit them, but I do keep them up to date.

On YouTube , I tend to consume a lot of art-related content. While I'm painting, when I'm not listening to music, which is almost always, I tend to watch podcast-style videos, such as those about the Prado Museum, Antonio García Villarán 's channel, or things I'm seeing that are art-related and that interest me. I watch episodes of "Metrópolis," the cultural program on Channel 2, or "Imprescindibles." I also occasionally watch a documentary about an artist I'm interested in. I search for most things because I've heard something or heard someone comment on them, and I download them directly or watch them online on whatever platform I'm using.

Where are you when you're not making art? Last year I enrolled in a ceramics course in San Roque, near where I live. Although I had some knowledge from the university, it was basic, and I wanted to go deeper. It was amazing; I was absolutely amazed, and the truth is that since then I've been thinking about buying a pottery wheel and being able to make pieces that come to mind.

I've often thought about teaching classes and having a studio for both—painting and teaching—while also making some money, but unfortunately, I haven't had the time to split it up. Besides, my studio is a complete mess. I have my order, but within the mess, and I don't think it's the best place to bring children and adults together.

Whenever I can, I go to the exhibitions I have in the surrounding area, especially to the galleries in Marbella, like Yusto Giner or Isolina Arbulu, or any other galleries that have an exhibition in the area. Lately, there's been quite a few things happening in the province of Cádiz thanks to the Osborne Foundation and the Casa de Indias, which I visit whenever I can. I travel to Seville from time to time, but it all depends on my personal schedule.

I'm not a person who moves much in the artistic world. It's a facet of the working world I detest. I'm more independent in that regard.

You'll like it if you know... My references have always been the painters I've liked most in art history, and I go see them every time I'm in Madrid. We're talking about Velázquez, Goya—whom I love—Caravaggio, Roger van der Weyden, Bosch—who is my downfall and whose work I've created several triptychs—Jan van Eyck and his 'Annunciation', one of my favorite works, which is in the Thyssen Museum ...

More contemporary artists like Adrian Ghenie – I love him! –, Van Minnen, Colleen Barry, Justin Mortimer, who I love, Christian Hook, Paco Pomet, Santiago Ydáñez, Abraham Lacalle or José María Yturralde.

My work focuses more on artists who have emerged from urban art and brought their work from the street to the studio, such as Felipe Pantone and his ultra-dynamic manifesto, Okuda , Julio Anaya, Manolo Mesa, Alberto Montes, Seleka Muñoz, Escif...

I also include others such as Jose Carlos Naranjo, Miguel Scheroff, Julia Santa Olalla, Javier Ruiz, Daniel Sueiras, María Melero, Eduardo Millan, José Luis Serzo, Juan de Morenilla, Maciej Kosc, Sebas Velasco, and Ramon Muñoz, among many others. In the digital world, I closely follow my friend Rafa Galeano and his animations, Ezequiel Pini, and Ausias Perez.

I could say so many that I'd never finish. Certainly, from all the artists, even if I don't like what they do, I always get something.

What's on my agenda now ? Right now, I'm preparing my second solo exhibition for the Isolina Arbulu gallery, which will open in mid-November of this year. In February 2026, Isolina has organized a solo exhibition for me in collaboration with the Tamara Kreisler gallery in Madrid. Isolina regularly attends national and international fairs. I don't know which ones she'll be attending this year yet, but I do know that she's investing in my work and is currently studying international exhibitions to expand my work.

What's your favorite project to date? I've done every project with the utmost energy and the best I can give at any given moment. I always do things thinking I could die tomorrow, and I have to do it as best as possible. I'm also very critical of myself, and that's both a good and a bad thing. I demand a lot from myself, and everything has to be perfect. So, to answer that question, I've enjoyed all the projects I've done, but if I had to highlight one more than others, it would be my first solo exhibition at Isolina Arbulu and the solo exhibition I had this year at the Sala Rivadavia.

I liked the gallery exhibition because it was the first time I'd shown my work as an art professional. All the pieces I created had a tremendous power, and I was incredibly happy with everything that happened to me during that time and with having met Isolina, with whom I have a super-good relationship. The exhibition was also very well received by the audience and had very good sales. The gallery is spectacular, and the first time I saw it, I was amazed by the space.

From the moment Paco Mármol called me to propose it, I put a lot of love and effort into the Cádiz exhibition in Rivadavia, simply for the sake of showing my work and myself in my city, with the people who have seen me grow up and with the immense passion I have for Cádiz and my town. Without Cádiz, I wouldn't be who I am today. Everything I do, everything I show, are thoughts, experiences, and experiences that I've been living since I was a child and that continue to nourish me today. That's the secret of my work: Cádiz.

Why should we trust him? My work is a blend of traditional and figurative art, the kind we see in museums, street art, digital design, and conceptual art, all rolled into one.

It's been hard for me to find what I wanted to do, the key to my style and my work. Even so, I continue to incorporate new concepts and ideas, and I keep changing things. My work isn't situated in a single style; it lies between abstraction and figuration because I believe one cannot exist without the other. My backgrounds are abstract, gradients of intense, very modern colors into which I incorporate figurative objects. Currently, for works that require a plane, whether it's a floor or a table surface, I add a different geometric plane for each piece.

In short: I mix the work of street artists who work with abstract art and spray paint, such as Felipe Pantone , with the work of figurative artists who work with oil, brushes, and airbrushes, such as Justin Mortimer, and create a whole that I think is something new, modern, and powerful.

Where do you see yourself in a year? I'd say I'd continue where I am now, little by little, climbing higher and higher mountains. I'm like a mountaineer aiming to reach eight-thousanders. He starts by climbing mountains of two-thousanders, three-thousanders, until he feels capable of climbing five-thousanders or six-thousanders, eventually reaching the eight-thousanders and Everest. I have that working mechanism. I climb and acclimatize along the way. Every day I take another step and advance until I reach the summit.

If everything goes as I envision it, many people who know me, and those who don't but know what I do for a living, will be perplexed when they see where I'll end up. My intention has always been the same: to work, create, and do what I want, when I want, and where I want.

Define yourself in one stroke.

To whom would I pass the baton for this interview? Well, I'd pass it on to a good friend and amazing artist, Manolo Mesa, who is internationally recognized for his wonderful murals and paintings. He's also a fellow countryman from El Puerto de Santa María, and for many years, I've had a great deal of respect and admiration for what he does and what he's done all his life: painting.