Urbano (Urban Images), 2002
Acrylic On Canvas Panel 18 X 14 In.

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Interview with Miguel Angel Avila
by Rocío Heredia

If someone has a gift of art, should they go to art school and why?
Well, yes… If you can, I think you should. For two reasons; first, it's obviously a lot easier to have someone there who knows about techniques, mediums, materials, and so on to share all that, or most of it with you; rather than what I've been doing for a few years now which is learning that on my own, asking around…I mean, that is a good thing to do even if you're having a formal training in art…and I don't regret it, it's been a lot of fun actually. But I think it would have speed up the process for me a little bit.
And second, I believe art school is a place where you can make very good contacts, professors who might know curators for example, or collectors or dealers; people who might be interested in giving you an opportunity to create art, willing to support your artwork. I'm not saying that happens all the time but is a starting point.

What was your first painting? Do you have a photo of this painting?
I've been drawing since I can remember, but a painting where a brush is involved… that was about 11 or 12 years ago. It is an oil painting, very different from what I do nowadays as you can imagine. It depicted a very traditional landscape. It's at my parent's house in Monterrey; unfortunately I don't have a photo of it. Actually I thought it was lost, but every time I visit my folks in Mexico my mother has another of my old paintings hanging on a wall. Sometimes it surprises me that I don't even remember painting some of those canvases. I don't know where she finds them but she keeps making discoveries every so often. Some of them unfinished, even like that she hangs them. During one of my visits last year I recognized that painting, it's so funny…you can definitively tell I was learning to use a brush.

Do you have awards that had an effect on your career?
No, at least not yet. But to be honest with you that is not something that keeps me awake at night. To have the opportunity to paint, to participate in exhibitions or to have someone asking me for a painting means a lot more to me right now.

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