Managing Editor
Long Beach artist Eddie Jelinet says he discovered his knack for making art at a very young age.
“I discovered that I could paint at the age of 6 years old,” he says. “I’ve been painting since then.”
Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco in Mexico, the 32-year-old studied art at the Casa de Cultura de Baja California. When painting, he works primarily in oils and acrylics, but he has an eye for photography too.
A look at your website reveals that the primary subject matter for your paintings seems to be mythological figures, religious icons, Frida Kahlo and color re-interpretations of black-and-white photos from Madonna’s Sex book from the ’90s. But then, your photographs are altogether something different. What is it about these subjects that inspire your paintings, and how would you characterize your photography’s subject matter?
I define my painting as some special gift from the art. I paint mostly the three divinities of the human being, that is mythology, religion and sex. It is like the circle of life. We are all body and soul with human desires but also with the hope of the spirit immortality.
The short film that I’m working on talks about how all artists, since the old masters, were all dreamers— just like me now and all the artists in the world are all dreamers like they were once. But also how artists, when we are creating the art, feel this feeling of being the masters at the time. We are creating, but in reality, we are slaves of our own ideas. Because the real masterpiece is not me, it is not you, and it is not a painting. The real masterpiece is the art that uses us to express ideas. I really believe that most art questions can’t really be answered by the artist since art is about questions and since artists express themselves on the canvas. Art can mean something different to every person because art is a mirror of our culture and gives a different message to every viewer. For example, in my case, I consider myself an instrument of the art to express itself. I get ideas every day. Some of them I think about for months before I paint them, but I’ve been learning to not question the art, [such as] “Why do you want me to paint this?” and just let it be and express itself. I really believe that the artist should never repress his ideas.
To view more of the artist’s work, visit eddiejelinet.com .
