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Agustin Ramirez
Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico

Email: agusramiral@gmail.com

Website: http://www.agustinramirez.mx

Studio Description: Creativity and visual arts are vital to me and are an inalienable part of my nature. The mental images that compel my work are clearly subjective, they are a product of my surroundings, my history and my concerns; they are not limited to a specific subject; however, human nature is recurrent and prevalent. Although I have used other means to express myself, I currently do so through making sculptures, paintings and prints in ceramics.

I am passionate about ceramics because of its realm of possibilities and limitations that are a challenge and because it allows me to be in direct contact with the elements of nature: earth, air, fire, and water; all of which need proper handling if the intention is to master the craft and adopt it as a means of communication. Given the number of variables involved, one of my great pleasures is the surprise factor that results after baking the work, which is often frustrating for others.

I do not succumb, at least for now, to the predominant ideas and the recommendations received stating that I should limit my work to a particular technique and theme. Notwithstanding, I have several specific projects that I wish to delve into and develop.

Despite the fact that I understand that ceramic objects are amongst the most permanent in nature, as archaeological evidence dating back millennia suggests, to me, everything is ephemeral. The love for my project comes to an end when I complete it, or even shortly before then. My interests are always focused on the next project. I am inclined and prepared, just out of curiosity, to continue working with projects that could be considered concluded and satisfactory, to make improvements on them, or as it happens often, to unintentionally make them worse, but not without first discovering during the process possibilities of artistic expression, and that defects can be transformed into effects. I had always undertaken art works parallel to my professional career, but nowadays, I am a fulltime artist.

I am forever dissatisfied and have an innate inclination toward experimentation and scientific understanding, which I apply to all my undertakings and I think it enriches artistic expression and communication. For this reason I prepare my own pastes and glazes and my work is baked on low, medium and high temperatures, where I combine multiple construction and finishing techniques, I use glazes, overglases and underglazes, I utilize photolithography, serigraphy, China paint, sgraffito, lusters, vitrofusion, paper clay, raku, primitive burning, stamping, multiple firings, maiolica, engobes, terra sigilatta, and others. Since I am not financially dependent on this activity, I am entirely free.