Back in 2017 I did an interview for Zara Papp, Associate Professor of Saitama University, which was later use for her talk ‘Mural Art Development: Mexico, Japan, Australia’ as part of the 35th Anniversary exhibition of Diego Rivera at the Saitama Museum of Modern Art in Japan. Now in lock-down times, thought would be a good idea to share it if you would like to check it out ;)

2017 "Mural Art Development: Mexico, Japan, Australia" talk, Saitama Museum of Modern Art in Japan. Interviewed by Australian lecturer Zara Papp (Associate Professor of Saitama University). Seriatim, Japan.

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I would like to talk about your background and major works, especially in Mexico, Australia, and in Europe (you recently worked in Denmark?) and future plans.

I was born in Mexico and moved to Australia when I was 24 after graduating in Graphic Design (now I am 31). I started painting more professionally in Australia and stayed in Sydney for 6 years. I moved to the United Kingdom about a year ago and planning to stay here for another year in order to paint here and around Europe.

I was painting in Mexico for two months last year, where I participated in various festivals such as FEMINEM Female Street-Art Festival in the mountains, ‘Tu Estilo’ in Mexico City and ‘Ciudad Mural’ in Monterrey (north Mexico). After few months I came back to participate in CONSTRUCTO where I was sponsored by Molotow (spray-paint brand). This was the first time I ever painted murals back home since I moved to Australia in 2010, which was quite special to meet local artists and paint beside them for my country streets.

I moved to the United Kingdom about a year ago. I use the UK as my base at the moment and travel painting to different countries in Europe. This year I participated in the Meeting of Styles Graffiti Festival of Denmark (warm-up) and Poland (sponsored by NBQ). I also painted in ‘Blackburn Open Walls’ in Blackburn UK. I recently came back from Sicily, Italy where I was painting a couple of murals for a small town call Grammichele in a cultural festival organised by locals. At the moment, as is getting into winter times, I am painting in the town where I am living, mostly agreed walls around and local charity projects.

Goya Torres painting in Lublin, for Meeting of Styles Poland 2017.

So if you could find the time to send me a little info on which of your works you think are the most significant for you and why

I mix my work in between canvas/studio and mural painting. I have significant work in each of these based on their nature. My canvas/studio work tries to achieve more sober themes such as politics, existence and spirituality; while my mural work at the moment is more playful and joyful, mostly showing images of children with big eyes and animal spirits with them. The reason of this is because I intend to have fun, inspired and bring the public into a happy, relaxing mood when they look at them. Based on this idea, one of the most significant works where I achieved this conceptually and technically was the mural I did in Ringsted, Denmark for Meeting of Styles Warm-up.

Goya Torres mural at Ringsted, Denmark for Meeting of Styles Warm-up 2017.

Also related on how you work - e.g. materials, technology, inspiration from previous artists

The materials I use when painting canvas/studio work are a mix of spray-paint, acrylic, oil, charcoal and oil pastels, either on canvas, wood, paper or other surfaces. In the walls I use only spray-paint as this is a very good, practical and fast material to work with, as sometimes the murals need to be finished within one or two days. However I am looking into start to add acrylics in order to achieve a more ‘fine-art’ result. Some artists that had inspired me in my last years of work are Brett Whiteley, Francis Bacon, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Herakut and Dave Kinsey.

Goya Torres’ studio in Art Space Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom 2018. Photo by Warren Sebastian.

Finding and using locations for street art, any problems you face e.g. from authorities

Street-art has become such a fashionable, popular and contemporary form of public art expression that I hardly have ever faced any problems when painting in the street. As long as you are not ‘tagging’ I think is already accepted as a form of art, and everyone who passes by when I am painting (even authorities) has praised the work and don’t even ask questions about any sort of permissions. Regardless, I usually paint a wall with the permit, but I think as long as you don’t paint on a reserved/historical area or someones' house (without permission) is all good.

Goya Torres painting mural in Grammichele, Sicily, Italy 2017.

Also if you have any thoughts regarding the differences in creating your work in Mexico and Australia - how is the environment different etc.

The main difference between creating work in Mexico and Australia is on regards the technicalities of how to get the permits and walls. In Mexico is relatively easy as you only need permission from the owner of the place, while in Australia there are more formalities in how to get spots. Other differences are the way of working, where in Mexico is very casual and in Australia I would say more professional. Some others are how the audience accepts and embraces certain themes, colours and styles.

Goya Torres with her mural in Tlaxcala, Mexico for the FEMINEM Street-Art Festival, 2016.

If you have any insight about other young Australian artists that would be great, too.

My insight to young Australian artists who would like to get into the scene would be to keep practicing and looking for opportunities everywhere. The internet is a massive tool for this, there are heaps of pitch projects out there, nationally and internationally. You can basically reach anywhere through internet. Also, in the same way I would recommend them to focus local: start little, getting to know other artists and local contacts. Don’t wait for others to create opportunities for you. Be creative and do self-produced projects getting involve with the community. Something I noticed while working in Australia is how there is so much space for creativity and people would push it to help you. It is quite a snowball where one project will take you to the next one. Continue creating regardless of getting income through art or not. Just never stop doing it.