Pablo Leonardo Martinez was born in Havana, Cuba in 1961, lived and worked in Barcelona since 1966. Pablo Leonardo Martinez, an artist guided by intuition, approaches his artistic process with a sense of openness and receptivity. Rather than imposing preconceived ideas onto his sculptures, he allows the creative journey itself to shape the direction of his work.

Yinjispace：What inspired your interest in sculpture? And keep the creative enthusiasm for many years?

Pablo Leonardo：Being a shy little child, I began painting and modeling clay, feeling completely in the flow when creating forms, when playing with volumes. I would say that my aesthetic interest in form comes from that early days. 

Pablo Leonardo：I started studying at The Llotja Advanced School of Art and Design in Barcelona, I first chose engraving as a specialty. Even so, two years later, I still not very convinced with my decision, when my girlfriend, (that became later my wife), seeing a small terracotta sculpture in my studio, wondered why I didn’t choose sculpture as the first choice. A comment that became the boost I needed to switch disciplines, a decision that have never regretted. On the other hand, I think that is the introspective work what keeps my creative enthusiasm alive. I like to flow with the materials I use, somehow listening to their wants and needs while merging them with my own, creating exactly the message that I feel needs to be told… That’s what helps me to move forward, to keep creating.

Pablo Leonardo：Without a doubt, it’s through my artistic work that I can be fully myself. It’s my way to connect with my essence and my inner world, and, on the other hand, my outlet to connect with others, hoping that my art will resonate to them as well, since I conceive Art as a real bond between humans.

Yinjispace：Which philosophical thinking is incorporated into your works?

Pablo Leonardo：I think it would be the processual approach, since every part of the process is a key component.

Pablo Leonardo：All my creations start from intuition and hazard, automatically, in my studio, surrounded by the materials I love and inspire me the most. I see myself as a constructor that works, plays and enjoys merging elements with total freedom, while investigating and discovering paths to express myself. As a reference, since I prize intuition and I am also interested in breaking the barriers between life and Art, I would say that I particularly can relate to the Dadaist poetry. 

Yinjispace：What are your preferences for materials? Why choose them?

Pablo Leonardo：In fact, I have used multiple materials throughout my career. I would say I have had five stages. 

Pablo Leonardo：In my beginnings, I mainly work with terracotta and iron. Then, in the nineties, I became interested also in polyester, due to the contribution of light in the transparencies that generates. In the early 2000s, I started working with stainless steel and laser steel  cut sculptures: they were three-dimensional puzzles, complex constructions that could be assembled and disassembled. It was in 2005 when I began to work with wood and cast iron elements to make assemblies and composite pieces from both materials. And, finally, nowadays, I am using wood as the main material: I really like its warmth, and it adapts very well to my way of working.

Yinjispace：Who are the artists inspired by your work? What enlightenment did they bring you?

Pablo Leonardo：I have always been interested in the avant-garde of the 20th century and abstract sculpture.  Among many others, artists such as Constantin Brancusi, Isamu Noguchi, Alexander Calder, Henry Moore and Jorge Oteiza, have had an impact in my art. Yet haven’t had a special influence in my work, I have always been interested in their way of understanding space and the balance achieved between strength and subtlety.

Yinjispace：How would you define the design style of your work?

Pablo Leonardo：I consider myself a completely abstract artist. I am interested in the organic, the geometric and the kinetic.  Reality is not my starting point, although later, once the creation is finished, I usually can relate the result to it. I do not work based on any preconceived idea, letting myself flowing from this very first idea: objects are not visions of a world already lived, but sensations or enigmas that seek to be solved.

Yinjispace：When do you create a new work? How long will it take to reach the perfect state?

Pablo Leonardo：It depends. And it mainly relies on the format of the piece and, even more important, on the flow of my creative process. It’s not usual, but sometimes, if I don’t see a clear way to finish a piece, I choose to set it up apart and return to it in another moment. And it’s always a good decision, since it’s only then when I can see how to continue with it, normally finding new paths and letting it become something different as I thought in the first place. 

Pablo Leonardo：I create no more than twenty-five sculptures a year, probably very much conditioned by the manual process of creation that resonates with me.