Artonweb:Let’s start with a clarification: artists are born or made?

David Monrós: I think it’s not always clear-cut, in most cases it’s genetic, but I also believe in effort and awareness, even if in the end circumstances are what consolidates the artistic spirit.

Artonweb:How did you discover your calling for art: was there an enlightenment on your personal road to Damascus?

David Monrós: I never thought about that, but now that you’re asking I think moving to Menorca marked a before and an after, defining a more concrete creative journey.

Artonweb:Who would you throw from the tower: Picasso, Kandinskij, Dalì, Miró?

David Monrós: Ooohhhh …. I could never do that, those you rightly mention are among the others the ones who, considering I could appreciate their works for real, did consciously or unconsciously influence my work, both in a theoretical and practical way.

Artonweb: The seaside or the mountain? Classical music or jazz? A dog or a cat (if you have one)? A good book to read or a nice movie to watch?

David Monrós: The seaside or the mountain it’s the same, and possibly they don’t have to be too far one from the other.
Jazz, even if sometimes it’s hard to enter its rich range.
A dog, even if at home we have both dogs and cats and we love them equally.
A good book, because words can create worlds through imagination as a usual practice, however even a good movie watched in pleasant conditions is not a bad idea, every once in a while.

Artonweb: Put these words in increasing order of importance: beauty, intelligence, luck, health.

David Monrós: Health, intelligence, beauty, luck…. I think it seems without health the rest is very fragile, and beauty will not be complete and lasting if it’s not supported by something else, and in the end you’ll get your own luck only if you feel strong physically and mentally.

Artonweb: There is nothing better than.. or nothing worse than.

David Monrós: Nothing better than the contact with nature, whether in the sea or in the woods… and nothing worse than a toothache!

Artonweb: The artist is an insatiable curious, a madman looking for the invisible or a lucky guy who found his way to happiness?

David Monrós: We could incorporate the three circumstances you described into other ones, with more o less order and chaos.

Artonweb: Art is an escape, a goal or a passing train where you can choose to get on?

David Monrós: As far as I’m concerned it’s my personal outlet, my therapy and I believe it could have the same function for the rest of the world, letting every kind of emotions emerge and canalising them at the same time.

Artonweb: Describe your personality with three words.

David Monrós: Extrovert, chaotic, dreamer.

Artonweb: Describe your work with three words.

David Monrós: Impulsive, multidisciplinary, essential.

Artonweb: Which is your relationship with nature?

David Monrós: Close, mature, aware and worried, I keep on improving my relationship with nature day by day, both thanks to the informations I get, and thanks to the mistakes I did in the past.

Artonweb: Is there an artist (or more than one) who influenced your work more than others?

David Monrós: For sure there are many, and with many different expressive ways, from cartoon designers such as Robert Crumb, to street art of Bansky’s generation, passing by Picasso, Andy Warhol, Claude Monet, or abstractionists such as Pollock, Schnabel or Richter, among the others.

Artonweb: If you were an animal you’d be.

David Monrós: A fish, a grouper in particular.

Artonweb: If you were a city you’d be.

David Monrós: Berlin

Artonweb: If you were a tree you’d be.

David Monrós: An olive tree.

Artonweb: Three things you’d bring with you on a desert island.

David Monrós: A diving mask, a snorkel and a pair of flippers.

Artonweb: A work of the past that you wish you had done.

David Monrós: Making clay pots of different size and shapes.

Artonweb: Something that you haven’t done yet but you would like to do.

David Monrós: Get a boat licence.

Artonweb: Something you did but you wish you never did.

David Monrós: Practicing spearfishing.

Artonweb: Someone, maybe, Pablo Neruda, said in life we should always be able to learn and to teach what we learned: what is the last thing you’ve learned and the last you taught?

David Monrós: I don’t remember, but for sure someone younger than I am taught me something that has to do with new technologies, and I learned by myself something about it, without making some mistakes before.

Artonweb: Do you still have some unfulfilled dream? If yes which one?

David Monrós: Playing a musical instrument.

Artonweb: “Tempo di Mare”�: it’s impossible not to see it as a tribute to Marcel Duchamp moustached Mona Lisa or to Jean Michel Basquiat irreverent Mona Lisa. Was this your intention?

David Monrós: No, in a particular way, yes in a general one, all the artists you mentioned play a role behind my works. Even if in an irreverent way as you say, I really admire Leonardo Da Vinci and his icon, when I get closer to the sea in a playful and three-dimensional approach, using recycled wood brought by the sea.

Artonweb: The skull is a recurrent element typical of the underground culture which can be found in many of your works: would you confess your envy for Damien Hirst? His “For the Love of God”� has been sold for 50 million pounds!

David Monrós: No, I don’t envy him at all, but I admit my admiration for his work. Market, marketing, mass media, status, and so on…. are ideas you have to live with once you enter the establishment.
As far as I’m concerned, indeed the image of the skull lately occurs, sometimes as a return to basics, rebel and transgressive, or simply as the result of the confidence coming from knowing myself better and better, and from doing what gives me satisfaction in that particular moment.

Artonweb: And last, as for sure I did not ask you something you wanted to tell, make yourself a question and give an answer.

David Monrós: Do you think your work will survive you? I don’t care about it, on the contrary I care for enjoying my work and getting a better person while I’m still alive.