Interview with Kiko Alcazar

q)please tell us a brief info about yourself.

a)Well, I'm Kiko Alcazar. I live in Tarragona, a town near Barcelona. I am a photographer, but my pictures are beyond the simple picture, since I attempt to have a magical, dreamlike aura.

q)Tell us about your humble beginnings, When did you you first realized that you wanted to be an artist?

a)Since my childhood I inclined to drawing, crafts and everything related to art but almost without knowing it. Later I became interested in photography and notticed that this field could accomplish my needs because it gave me all the points I needed to express myself. At first, I didn’t realize that I wanted to be an artist, it just came out by itself. I think that beeing an artist is something you’re born with.

q)What are your tools of the trade and why?

a)My tools are my camera and Photoshop. I use the camera to catch the moment I need,to then tranfer it to my own world using Photoshop.

q)Who or what gives you inspiration on your morbid art?

a)I am inspired by my dreams, my fantasies and often the portrayed character. Each person inspires you something different, which they emanate. It’s like a symbiosis.

q)Is your artistic background self-taught or did you go to college to study?

a)I consider myself an autodidact, because I only spent one year at a photography school. It was a very frustrating experience. They seeked to address me to their own idea of photography, and I couldn’t adapt to that. I’ve always been a rebel, so I decided to quit. From then, I started learning photography techniques and Photoshop on my own.

q)How do you keep “fresh” within your industry?

a)Being true to myself and my style, trying not to follow fads, not beeing

a clone. I think that’s what brings the freshness. Otherwise you have to adapt your work to the trends and that makes you lose spontaneity.

q)What are some of your current projects?

a)Now I am preparing an exhibition for the gay film festival in Madrid, the “Lesgaicinemad”, and other two exhibitions in Mallorca andBarcelona on January.

Besides the exhibitions, I am preparing some photos for a book that will be released on 2010 and several pictures for some outstanding spanish actors and actresses.

q)Which of your works are you the most proud of? And why?

a)I am very proud of a picture that won a London Tate Modern contest.It was exposed with the other winners, and also included in “Street and Studio”,

a photography book published by Tate.
Besides this, I'm also proud of each photo I shot.

q)Are there any areas, techniques, mediums, projects in your field that you have yet to try?

a)Well, I must admit that there are areas that doesn’t motivate me and I’m not interestd in, but over time I hope to try some other fields.

I think that my style would work perfectly on the audiovisual area, for example.

q)What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?

a)Each project and each picture is a motivation, a challenge. If you are passionate about what you do, it’s not easy to burn-out.

q)How do you spend most of your free time?

a)Well, I like listening to music, reading, going to art galleries, stroll and to party! Being surrounded by my friends and my partner.

q)What contemporary artists or developments in art interest you?

a)I really like painting, illustration, photography and audiovisual projects.
Steven Meisel (already a modern classic), Steven Klein .. Illustrators like Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, etc.

q)We really like some of your pictures, how can we get our hands on them? Do you sell them? How?

a)Yes, the photos are available. You can get them if you contact me via email on kikoalcazarphoto@gmail.com. You can also get some more stuff related with my work on my online store

www.kikoalcazar/bigcartel.com

http://www.flickr.com/kikoalcazar

http://www.kikoalcazar.com