Artsy: Your portraits are inspired both by master works and by contemporary life. Could you elaborate on this? Where’s the intersection between the two?
Emilio Villalba: The master works were my introduction to portraiture. They’re also the way I became obsessed with human emotion and the way we’ve been conditioned by our cultures and upbringings. My portraits aren’t, in the traditional sense, trying to capture the identity or personality of my subjects. Instead, the process is about investigating or searching for an expression or mood that is familiar but distant. The distance is my attempt to dissociate any history I have with the models who happen to be my friends that I’ve shared experiences with. These pictures are personal, and reflections from my experiences, but meant to be enjoyed or interpreted in any way by anyone.
Artsy: You use real-life models. Tell us about that process. How do you choose them? How do you direct them, or collaborate with them, as the case may be?
Emilio Villalba: Most of my models are friends and family, or anyone who comes over to my apartment who is willing to pose. I don’t really pick my models, though I do paint my girlfriend a lot. I do enjoy painting people I’m really familiar with, because I feel a freedom to really abstract their faces and push emotions. I feel less worried about what my friends will think when I convey them really depressed or anxious, because they know that it’s not them, necessarily. I usually have my models pose in very neutral and relaxed positions with very little guidance from me. I’m concerned with lighting and clarity of photos so that I can have solid reference to work from. I usually take about 100-200 photos per person and end up working with one or two. Subtle distances between eyes or adjustments in tilt can make a person’s expression change without having their reference photo convey that. When I photograph my subjects, I have no idea what the painting will look like.