Naked Men Talking: Jean Carlos Puerto
In the conversation, we talk loneliness, Narcissus, and why he takes his clothes off to go swimming.
For our podcast, Naked Men Talking, I caught up with artist Jean Carlos Puerto.
In the conversation, we talk loneliness, Narcissus, and why he takes his clothes off to go swimming.
You've been drawing and painting since a young age. How did you discover that naked men was where you wanted to focus your creative output?
Painting naked men is part of me.
When I started painting, I felt that I should show my universe - men are part of my universe.
As well as being centred on men, my paintings are centred on psychological things. I'm a psychotherapist - I try to tell stories, human stories.
My paintings tell the stories of men and loneliness - that's often represented by a man alone in a room.
In the work that I'm doing now, I'm exploring new things - I'm taking the men outside.
What emotion are you exploring in this new work?
Inherited Body is the name of the project. It's about helping people to show proudly what they are. The way that I want to show them is with no clothes. Clothes send messages that are unnecessary.
When I was younger, my family stopped talking to me because I was naked in a painting.
How old were you at this time?
I was in my 20s - I'd just started painting. They stopped talking to be for about three months.
Because you created a painting that featured your naked body?
For them, it was very offensive - they saw it as selling myself.
That was the inspiration for Inherited Body. Why can't we show ourselves proudly and with no clothes? Our body is also an inheritance.
What was your relationship with your body like when you were growing up?
I have never been ashamed of my body - being naked is a very natural state for me. If I could, I would be naked all day.
How did you discover that you enjoyed being naked? What were some of your first naked experiences?
It was going to the beach here in Spain. I love the sensation of being naked in the sea.
One of the series that I've painted started from taking photos of myself and other people under the water and then using the photos to paint that on a canvas.
Can you talk about the painting we can see behind you - is that part of the Inherited Bodies series?
No, this is for a group exhibition that I'll be participating in - centred on the theme of Narcissus.
I wanted to do a contemporary take on Narcissus. I was looking at old photographs that I'd taken in my old studio in the bathroom, playing with lights, with reflections. I found one that fits perfectly.
Given the journey that you've been on and the work that you do, are there any insights or lessons that you wish that you'd learned earlier? Anything that you wish that you could tell your younger-self?
I would tell my younger-self that he doesn't have to be afraid. Being afraid is an awful thing that makes you small - that's not life.
Gareth Johnson