Clarisse: What’s your inspiration for creating all of this?

Eduardo: I don’t see it as inspiration, I see it as an inherent drive; an obsession with the internet. The internet is a visual library that we all rely on and I’ve been exposed to it since I was 7 or maybe even younger than that, so the various weird things that I’ve seen there are kind of like my reference library to want to create these things. Most of these images are coming from the internet. Some of them are like self-portraits. It’s all a mix. And I contribute to that sea of digital library

I try to create work between the mundane and the secular and I try to make it interesting

But with the sexual stuff, I try to think about how I can push it beyond just being smut, you know? Beyond just being obscene. Like, how can I make it visually interesting beyond just being, you know, “attractive to look at.” Like, I wanna push it a little bit further than the expected synapses that you’re supposed to get out of looking at these things.

Clarisse: I really like the negative space in this drawing. It seems very much intentional. Can you tell me how you find resolution in your work? 

Eduardo: A lot of my work comes from intuition and laziness. I’m trying to make something interesting without having to complete the image. I like alluding to things. The reason I like seeing the underdrawings of paintings is that I like seeing the process and I want to incorporate [the idea of] process in my work. I want people to see under the illusion.

So that’s kinda how I operate when I wanna create, I still want to leave like the underwiring of the house. A finished piece to me is overrated. Finding a resolution at a certain point, to me, is more important than completion.

Clarisse: Do you ever work from imagination?

Eduardo: Some of these are from imagination, like this one. 

Clarisse: How did this image come about?

Eduardo: I think just drawing figures doing nothing, I think it’s unrealistic. If you’re naked, most of the time it’s either you’re dressing up or you’re having sex, so that’s kind of like how I operate.

These academic nudes are only exclusive to that, you know. And to me, that’s not real.

Clarisse: I really like this piece.

Eduardo: This is a portrait of one of my social media friends from Indiana. I never met her. She’s been my pen pal for like 5 years. She was feeling like shit so I was like you know, I like honoring people you know, so. 

I’m not making my choices impulsively of who am I gonna draw because instead of drawing from references that I have no attachment to, well why not add a little bit of attachment to it. Why not expand on the things I wanna portray, you know, besides these figures performing sex or whatever. I wanna move beyond that because over time it gets a little derivative.

Clarisse: How did you come up with this image? 

Eduardo: A lot of these drawings, I lose the reference to, so I try to make it my own after that, which to me is more interesting than following and being faithful to the image. I made up the colors. I try to follow the feeling of the form, I try to exaggerate features that I think would make it look more interesting. I just push it a little bit more than the actual proportions.

Clarisse: This self-portrait is so great. I love it. What pushed you to make it?

Eduardo: I think I got fired from my job at the time so I was just feeling like shit and I was like I need to capture this feeling. I deferred from school for a year, I got fired from my job for being a kleptomaniac. I was just feeling like an overall loser and I want to consecrate myself. I wanted to honor myself in a way that’s almost kinda like Jesus-like while still wallowing. I wanted to be honoring and self-deprecating at the same time. I like those dichotomies of those opposite feelings, I like conveying that. Cause even though I’m self wallowing and I hate myself, I’m still drawing myself and that’s still a form of self-love and I can't deny it. I’m drawing these self-portraits because I think I’m beautiful.