Interview with Ramiro Davaro-Comas

AT WHAT AGE DID YOU DECIDE TO BECOME AN ARTIST?

I have always been interested in art and loved visiting galleries. During my high school and college years I would make small paintings for little shows and maybe sell something for $20.

In my mid 20s, I travelled to Europe to participate in some artist residency programs because I truly wanted to see if I could have a creative career. I lived in Berlin, Amsterdam, and Barcelona with other artists and creative people for six months. I then came back to the US and participated in residencies at AS220 and the Art Students League’s Vyt residency program. I would say that during this time I met so many people who were successful pursuing their art that I began to believe I could do it too. In 2013, I moved to the city and worked four jobs while making art whenever I could. I had a couple successful solo art shows at my dream gallery, the Cotton Candy Machine, which gave me the confidence to keep hustling. I was finally able to quit my side jobs and fully focus on my creative career in 2016 when I launched the first traveling artist residency program for muralists in the US.

HOW DID YOUR PARENTS REACT WHEN YOU TOLD THEM YOU WANTED TO BE AN ARTIST?

As immigrants they wanted me to be a lawyer, doctor, or business person. So I studied business. As I started working with galleries, traveling to Europe, selling work, and painting large scale murals, they got around to seeing the fruits of my labor. Now that Grace and I have our non-profit organization, Super-Stories, and our children’s maker space, they approve and love it!

WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS?

Hieronymus Bosch,  Grace Lang, Botero, Os Gemeos, BelowKey.

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE ARTIST WHOSE WORK IS UNLIKE YOUR OWN?

Bosch.

ART BOOK YOU CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT?

Disposable: The History of Skateboard Art.

WHAT IS THE QUALITY YOU MOST ADMIRE IN AN ARTIST?

Openness and diligence.

DO YOU KEEP A SKETCHBOOK?

Yes, multiple.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE MUSEUM IN ALL THE WORLD?

The Prado in Madrid.

WHAT’S THE BEST EXHIBITION YOU HAVE EVER ATTENDED?

Os Gemeos at the ICA in Boston. The Hieronymus Bosch room in the Prado, and a street art collection somewhere in Berlin in 2012.

IF YOU WERE NOT AN ARTIST, WHAT WOULD YOU BE?

At this point in my life, maybe a botanist or a farmer.

DID YOU HAVE AN ARTISTIC COHORT THAT INFLUENCED YOUR EARLY CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT?

My family always drew with me, particularly my uncle at a very young age. I would say the artistic cohort that truly influenced me was the group called the Barnstormers that I read about in 2008–9. A group of artists that travelled down South to paint old barns.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU DIDN’T LEARN IN ART SCHOOL THAT YOU WISH YOU HAD?

I didn’t go to art school, I studied business. I love learning, so when I don’t know something that I want to know, I will read books, take classes, and learn more about that subject. I believe that you must continue to learn in life—if you can—or you might as well be a pet rock.

WHAT WORK OF ART HAVE YOU LOOKED AT MOST AND WHY?

Murals, graffiti, and illustration. I absolutely love cartoons and skateboard graphics. I enjoy the narrative possibilities within an illustration and have always gravitated towards stories!

WHAT IS YOUR SECRET VISUAL PLEASURE OUTSIDE OF ART?

Cat videos.

DO YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC IN YOUR STUDIO?

Yes. Jazz mainly.

WHAT IS THE LAST GALLERY YOU VISITED?

The William Baczek Gallery in Northampton, MA.

WHO IS AN UNDERRATED ARTIST PEOPLE SHOULD BE LOOKING AT?

Underrated to whom? I would say the art and impact of skateboarding in our culture has been overlooked for a very long time, and I am glad it is finally getting the spotlight in some locations.

WHAT ART MATERIALS CAN YOU NOT LIVE WITHOUT?

Sketchbooks.

DO YOU PAINT/SCULPT/CREATE ART EVERY DAY?

No. Somedays I have to garden and go skateboarding.

WHAT IS THE LONGEST TIME YOU WENT WITHOUT CREATING ART?

Six or seven months. I was invited to have a mini-solo exhibition a few years ago at one of my favorite galleries in LA. There were 3000 people at the opening. I felt that I was never introduced to collectors or buyers throughout the evening, and I only sold one painting to a family member. I had driven there and back from NYC.

The trip itself was better than the gallery experience since we camped, skateboarded, and hung out at old saloons all the way there and back.

I was very disillusioned with my gallery experience, and it pushed me to focus more on creating work with and for communities than to try and sell paintings to people with money. Still, I didn’t create for a long time. I think I needed that time away though to recalibrate.

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE FEELING UNINSPIRED?

Go skateboarding.

WHAT ARE THE QUESTIONS THAT DRIVE YOUR WORK?

How can my work/life better the world? How can my creative career help the environment? help the world? start conversation? I feel that contemporary art creatives today must address the social and environmental catastrophes that are happening every day in our world.

What is the most important quality in an artist?

To be able to laugh.

WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU HAVEN’T YET ACHIEVED IN ART?

Being able to offset all of my carbon emissions from the mural trips I take.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT ART IN THE ERA OF SOCIAL MEDIA?

Cat videos.

‍