“Tokyo has thousands of stimuli… it’s a paradise for the senses.”
What aspects of Tokyo do you find most appealing? Do you feel comfortable in such a big city?
Yes, I feel very comfortable. I live in a typical two-story Japanese house with tatami mats in all the rooms, a garden, and in a central but relaxed area. On the second floor, I set up my painting studio. Tokyo, despite being a very large city, is at the same time very safe, quiet, people are polite, and they respect each other’s space a lot, so it’s ideal for artists since you can be constantly focused on your inner world. Tokyo has thousands of stimuli… it’s a paradise for the senses. In the city, I also found a lot of inspiration from nature, which is very present everywhere, even in the middle of the city. Also, the seasons are very marked and beautiful, we have snow in winter, cherry blossoms in spring, in summer a great variety of animals and insects, and in autumn, beautiful colors. All of this is especially inspiring to me for my art.
There is a story about when you were working at the Sagrada Familia and a woman came to talk to you, and her words changed your life. Could you tell us more about this interesting event?
Before dedicating myself professionally to painting, I worked in tourism at Antoni Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. At that time, I felt somewhat lost in life… Apart from my daily work, I had started painting as a hobby, I had two music bands, and I was writing a philosophy book, among other hobbies. I felt like I couldn’t handle everything and urgently needed to take a path in my life. One day at work, among the thousands of tourists we received, I saw a woman who kept staring at me from a distance. When she approached, intrigued, she asked me if by any chance my name was August and if I painted. When I answered yes, she began to cry and hugged me. She told me that she had just arrived that morning from Austria for a visit but because of her fear of flying, she spent the night on the computer, and by some strange coincidence, she ended up on my Facebook profile where she saw my artwork, which relaxed her and with which she felt a very deep connection. The curious thing is that at that time, I didn’t have any profile, website, or blog as an artist or painter on the internet. I had never shared my art anywhere. I had only occasionally posted some photos of my works on my small personal Facebook profile, which only my friends and family saw… so the chances of that lady finding me were almost zero.
For all this, in addition to the fact that she had no idea that I was from Barcelona, let alone that I worked at the Sagrada Familia, our meeting could not have been a coincidence. According to her, it was a predestined encounter in which she felt like a tool of the universe sent to push my dream… amidst tears, she told me that I had to make the most important decision of my life, and that I had to make it that same day without fail. And just as she said, I went to talk to my boss and quit that stable job, I also talked to the two music bands to leave them at once, and I decided to stop writing my book. I focused completely on my painting, created a profile, a website, and a portfolio which I began to send around the world until I was accepted for a 3-month artistic residency in Japan where I sold my first artwork, won the award for best international artist at the Tokyo International Art Fair, and from where my artistic career took off to this day.
