As a child, I aspired to be an astronomer, a pianist, a biologist, a meteorologist, and a journalist; I was fascinated by writing, music, planets and galaxies, technology, and daubing paint because drawing bored me; later, I became interested in biochemistry, geography, climatology, and advertising. However, of all mathematics, only integrals ever amused me. My preferences were so varied that I never had a clear idea of what I wanted to be when I grew up. So many, in fact, that I became almost nothing.

I always attributed the good fortune of having studied Fine Arts to my mother. One day, while I was in my first year of Philology, she noticed I was bored with that extended secondary education and asked if I wanted to study painting. I liked the idea, but it had never crossed my mind because I did not enjoy drawing; the one who drew well at home was my father, and I did not inherit his skill with a pencil. Even so, the challenge seemed so exciting that I accepted it without hesitation. The power of dopamine...

Many years earlier, my father, who was deaf-mute and also very restless, frequently asked me questions that were truly difficult for a child under ten years of age, such as what music is, or upon what basis we claim someone sings well or poorly, why it is possible that I might not like someone who I acknowledged sang well, or what it feels like to be motivated to dance. From a very early age, perhaps unintentionally, he made me acutely aware of the senses and what they signified in my life.

Le encantaba jugar al ajedrez y leer, especialmente libros de Historia y periódicos, pues le interesaba mucho la actualidad. También leía a diario las noticias en televisión con subtítulos y en el teletexto. Un día encendí la tele y estaban dando una película, sólo recuerdo que en blanco y negro. En automático activé los subtítulos y, para mi sorpresa, me pidió que los desactivara. Mi padre era una persona sensible y le recuerdo emocionarse, reír y llorar con el cine. Le pregunté cómo era posible que la quisiera sin subtítulos y me respondió sin dudar lo más mínimo: “porque prefiero imaginar”.

Now, with the passing of years, I know that I owe my way of understanding art to him more than to my studies and the faculty: an art that transcends the medium, the format, the technique, and even the artist and their intention.

For me, as my father showed me, art occurs when a person is moved. And this was my first great lesson.