Antonio Lopez
At the beginning 2017, another enriching experience began for the group of artists that travelled all the way from China to Spain to study painting with two great Spanish Masters: Golucho and Antonio López.
TIAC Master Workshop with Antonio López García started on March 27th in Madrid. This was 6-day course during which Mr. López painted and sketched along with the students while giving them guidance on the painting process as well as suggestions on techniques and materials.
López also took the time to look at the artists portfolio one by one to analyze their creative ideas and to give them the most precious advices.
The students were deeply touched by this Artist, who on the first day of the workshop went himself to the vegetable market to select the material for the still-life exercise. It was important for López to allow the students to observe the creative process from its very beginning. Thanks to the Master they learned how to select the object/subject to be depicted and how to set up a harmonious composition with beautiful local products.
López shared with the students that he wanted to paint only what he could see, but also confessed that while studying the comparative method of painting, which uses only a brush as tool to check and compare proportions within the painted subject, he realized he lacked of means to capture more accurately the physical form.
Antonio Lopez's measuring tools
During the '60s, he came up with his own personal measuring method using a variety of tools designed by himself that would allow him to measure any object regardless the distance.
A wooden square, a compass, some strings, a plumb bob, a bottle of temper and some needles have been used since during the development of his paintings.
“My uncle is also a very good painter but he does not care about these rigorous methods of creation. He thinks he should practice how to observe the subject and I have very much agreed with him for long time, but I slowly found myself increasingly eager to achieve a higher level of precision, and in order to shorten the process, I tried some methods and finally found that measurement is the best way.”
Antonio Lopez devoted himself to every aspect of the development of the student's progress in their paintings, and, regardless the difference of language, he was able to convey his passion and care for them. Not only he taught the lessons, but also he took the time to know every one of the artists, to listen to their life stories, experiences and questions in order to give them the best of the advices. His humbleness was shocking for the Chinese artists, who pay so much respect to their Masters that they would never consider themselves as equals.
Master López broke cultural boundaries expressing his love for the encounter between the younger generations of different cultures, making TIAC's efforts to organize this kind of Master Workshops even more meaningful.