Yasmina Martínez, illustrator and multidisciplinary artist. Written by @loretosocorro
The words in her voice come through clear and strong, like her. She can tell that she knows what he wants and that he loves this woman that he has become.
Yasmina, did you dream of being an artist when you were little?
Absolutely. It wasn't what I imagined I would like, growing up. At that time I used to draw what my parents asked me to do: “paint a landscape…”.
As a child I started big: with oils. I painted flowers, still lifes... I matured and traveling a lot with my family and even living in Germany for a few years helped me. This made me see life in a different way.
For Yasmina, like many other women, she was filled with other occupations but creativity was still latent inside her. When you took up the painting?
It was as a result of the confinement, like many people, that we recovered those hobbies that we had leveraged and forgotten, although it was something that we were very passionate about.
With the health situation, the use of networks multiplied, ¿it helped you too to spread your work?
I took a run I started uploading it to the networks, yes. I removed all my personal stuff and began to share the illustrations that I generated here, at home, and all the material. I had a very big visual success. The truth is that I was very surprised that I liked it so much. That was the start.
It became more than entertainment, did it sit well at home?
My family supported me. The girls were surprised because they were unaware of that side of me. Basically, I spent twenty years taking care of my daughters and all the chores that come with being a housewife, a working woman, and a mother.
Apart from illustrations you also move in other artistic disciplines...
I love photography, I photograph myself and do my montages. It's a fun way to work with other art forms.
You do something on wire too, right?
What I work with wire are kinds of miniatures. I make figures. This comes from many years ago, when I bought an illustrated book, "Poetry of Art" and fantastic ideas came out to work with cork from trees and with wires. I made a few figurines that I gave to friends.
Don't you keep any?
I stayed with one where I reflected my three daughters in a specific game situation. It's like poetry in motion.
If you had to explain what you do to six-year-olds, what would you tell them?
Once I did a watercolor workshop for children and, as happens to many adults who have finished their studies in Fine Arts, they all have this kind of fear of painting, of giving colour, of daring: "I've got such a beautiful butterfly, I'm afraid to give it color... because I think I'm going to spoil it" In life, in illustration and in art we must let the energy that we carry inside flow without fear. If fear takes over us, we don't move forward. For this type of thing you have to jump in, dare to give color to life. That is what I explained in the workshop and it is what I would explain to any kid and to many who write to me and ask me about techniques. I have not studied techniques, what I can say is: dare!
What colors fill your life?
In general, in everyday life, I'm not very colorful. Rather, I choose the neutral: earth colors, like a good Taurus, ocher, gray, brown colors... and I don't like strident colors at all; but nevertheless, to paint if I like that explosion of color. I don't have a favourite, even neons and I like to mix chalk, wax, Indian inks with acrylics and play a little with everything. What yes, I confess to you that there is a single color that I do not tolerate: mauve. I can use it for a touch but it doesn't appeal to me at all.
What materials do you feel most comfortable with?
I use acrylics a lot because it is a material that favors, due to the intensity and strength of color it has and, apart from that, it dries quickly. For me, who is desperate and wants to see the work finished soon, it makes my job much easier. I use Indian ink, wax and some other materials to give a different touch. I also like to use spray, what we call graffiti, as a base or to give play.
The oil has a spectacular result but it is a very meticulous job. They are for artists who dedicate a lot of time to a work. I am more of painting, removing and recreating.
You are always investigating, in continuous movement...
Everything is experimenting and I am lucky that everything works out for me. I don't think I've ever thrown away a single sheet or canvas because it went wrong. Not all of them have had the result they should have, even risking to investigate, with different materials of course.
Before you told me about your daughters, have they inherited your creativity?
My daughter, the middle schooler, has amazing potential. I see myself very reflected in it. She might be encouraged to study with something that has to do with art because I didn't. The future is complicated but it can be a second alternative. Focusing on art today is complex as a way of life.
In your illustrations there is something very special and they are the eyes. There is a look that catches.
I'm going to be honest. I think the look is what has gotten people hooked on my illustrations. The why I don't know. It is something that comes out alone, from the soul. I am guided a lot by sensations and moods when painting.
I've been asked if I'm depressed or if I have problems... because many of my illustrations are very sad, very deep looks... But I don't think it's me but rather what one sees, what surrounds us and that, whether you like it or not , influences.
When you illustrate a public figure, is it because you have a goal, or a special admiration?
It depends on the moment. I watch a movie the same way and say: well, I like the profile of this actor, I'm going to capture it, see what comes out...
Many times I also have a thought in my head and I am surprised to finish with what we have in the subconscious, which comes out when it wants. You are not conscious until the end, not even in the transit of work, but when you stay observing the result and say “My goodness!-he laughs and tells us a memory of a time when he wanted to paint an old man and without planning it he painted his deceased uncle- I didn't believe it until I finished it: he was my uncle in his essence, just as he was before his illness, with his grimace... Other times I feel like painting Einstein with a funny and funny touch... it's just inspiration, moments and situations.
Speaking of fun, is the tongue sticking out in your social network photos sympathy or rebellion?
Look, I think both. My daughters tell me that I am not a normal mother and, without a doubt, I am different. I consider myself a fun person and the perspective I have of life is that it is to enjoy it. I am super positive and I think that you have to live with fun. Look, on Valentine's Day I made a video of myself, dancing, to show that that day doesn't have to be just Valentine's Day: love yourself. I love myself and I think that is transmitted.
Are these things you do the messages that reach your followers?
I try to transmit to many women who follow me and they write to me and tell me that a vibe comes to them, a very good energy and that makes me very happy: to transmit that joy.
Are your illustrations a bit you?
Although they have nothing to do with each other, yes, they are all me. Many people have caught it and have written to me. They tell me: “I feel that your illustrations are a bit like you”, and people from all over the world tell me that. In networks you have to filter but it is incredible to interact with people from all over the planet: from Japan, Argentina, where I have made good friends, to Canada and that they share that philosophy of what they see in my illustrations, it is a luxury.
How can they have a sad look if you are a strong and happy person?
It is contradictory because the women in the illustrations are independent, strong and do what they want. Many have a hairstyle, a way of dressing, something that identifies them with strength and power; however, the look is sad.
Is it pain?
It is not pain, as I explain, it is... that work that we have to do every day. That strength that we have to get from where we don't have it, to get ahead and that is reflected in the illustrations. I would say that it is what our backpack weighs us down and, even so, we manage to go out into the street to be seen and say “¡olé, I knowa Go strong, independent, intelipeople!", but inside we carry a backpack and that... people don't know. It's all reflected
What inspires you when you illustrate?
Life in general. The stories that friends tell you about their heartbreaks and loves. I know what they experience because I also had to make decisions when I took up painting again. I came to be stagnant and lived a reunion with myself. I took the step to stop being a conventional and hard-working housewife and bring out this Yasmina that was hidden inside me for twenty years, in a loop.
That's why you upload the videos, what do you claim?
That the woman is strong, she is independent and that the woman can. It is a way of expressing, through the networks, and it is something that many women already know: that we are fighters, but that there is still fear of taking the step, of society.
Did the change cost you a lot?
It was very hard to deal with some situations and to be understood. I think it was around this time that I drew a lot of sad and slightly gory drawings. It was a hard facet although always maintaining positivity and joy, but inside I felt a lot of sadness. But as I told you before: we are women and we can.
You have exposed your work in networks and also in physical places...
During the confinement I did my first exhibition, at the end of 2021, in Telde and it was called “Reencuentro”. It was very good to have been the first individual exhibition. It was a real encounter with art.
Since then I have done many virtual and collective exhibitions.
At an international level too, even as the only participating Canary.
Are there any planned for soon?
Last year I wanted to exhibit collectively because I think there are times for everything. I wanted to have the experience of working in a group and it was very nice. This year I will do fewer collective exhibitions and I have planned two individual exhibitions.
I am very excited about my second individual exhibition.
Where and when can we admire your work again?
The inauguration is on March 1 at 8 pm, in the Lola Massieu room, in the Victor Jara theater in Vecindario. I am very excited about this exhibition because not only are there going to be a mixture of impressive, curious and colorful works from the journey of all this time -from the confinement to date- but I am going to add accessories and some clothes painted to hand. The name I have given it is "Art of the World", precisely because of the content.
Will it be like a party with surprises?
There are curious elements, like a couple of elements that I am going to present and that…-measure his words to leave us intrigued- I'm just telling you that "element" is called Wendy, I don't know if there will be two -laughs again without revealing the surprise- Well, this “Wendy” keeps me a lot of company here, in the studio and it cost me a bit of life, at first, because it is not easy to go from a canvas to…”a Wendy”. I think the result has been quite curious and will be the icing on the cake at the exhibition. A curious and striking element, I'm just telling you that.
You leave us wanting, Yasmina... From "Salt del Atlántico" we wish you much success and we accept the invitation to see the exhibited work because there is nothing like recreating the view in an art room.
