He has portrayed iconic women such as Lady Gaga or Scarlett Johansson and his works decorate the houses of George Soros or Leonardo di Caprio.
The Mallorcan artist
Domingo Zapata
has become the favorite of the 'celebrities'.
You are very famous in the United States, but here in your land you are less known. I do not agree. That is a cliche of the press in this country. My career is in the United States, but when I am in Spain I feel very loved and recognized. The press is the one that continually says that people don't know me. Well, journalists do their job and find out who Domingo Zapata is. I have been painting and exhibiting all over the world for 15 years. Your father painted cars in Mallorca and your mother was a dressmaker. What did they teach you? That's the potion. From there, a painter comes out. From them I have learned from sensitivity to how to find inspiration. My father was a very creative person within the possibilities that he had like many people who were born in the postwar period with many difficulties, a lot of poverty and no education. And your mother? She is a very creative and very positive person. It was a time when there was a lot of machismo and he could not have the opportunities that women in Spain can have today. I give it a 10. How does a Mallorcan get into the exclusive art world of New York? That exclusive world has radically changed. Nowadays, through social networks, access to the art world is not only in New York or London, but it is global. Whoever wants to express himself has the possibility of going where he wants. You have painted Sofía Vergara, Angelina Jolie or Kim Kardashian. Who has impressed you the most? I have an obsession with women and every woman is beautiful at all times in her life. Painting these celebrities is much more intimate than a photograph. There is something about certain personalities that when they enter a place they stop it. Suddenly, the aura of the place changes. It is a magic that travels. I wanted to discover what existed in there and translate it into the work. That's why I did that series in which I portrayed epic women. You had to remove layers and layers and layers until you got to the essence of magic. Did you make it? In the end, it's all about being sincere and honest. If you are, sooner or later, the other person gains confidence. It is very difficult to be these people because they are used to great success, but also to public damage. Among your clients are George Soros, Johnny Deep ... How did you win them over? First you have to have the opportunity to be and then to demonstrate . They themselves help you. You have painted with the Pope and with Leonardo di Caprio, who do you stay with? Leonardo is a wonderful person, from the professional point of view as a human. I am Catholic and I have faith, although I am not very practicing. I have to stay with the Pope because I believe he is a person who brings us closer to God. My experience with him was wonderful. You have a bullfighting soul, but here in Spain bullfighters are increasingly criticized. When I was little, my father was a civil guard. He worked in the bullring in Palma, where we went every Sunday. My mother brought us the potato omelette sandwich. Bullfighting art is part of the culture of who we are. It has inspired great artists from Picasso to Hemingway. Bullfighting has been a tourist attraction from which Spain has gained a lot for many years. Let's not forget about history. My daughter is 13 years old and does not like bulls and my 11 year old son sits with me to watch them. I'm not going to force my daughter to see something she doesn't like, but I'm going to teach her to respect it. Is that respect being lost? Using the word murderer for bullfighters is disrespectful. Imagine that now someone says that all Goya's bullfighting paintings must be erased. What would we say? It would be an outrage, right? Well, it's the same. There are political parties like Podemos that want to ban bullfighting. Politicians don't know anything about art. If they knew about art, they would not attack Spanish culture. It is not a bullfighting issue. We have to protect the bulls in the same way that we protect the Catalan or the Mallorcan because it is essential to protect the roots. Do you want to end the bulls? Come on, then erase all the paintings by Picasso, those by Goya ... And remove all the joys and good times that bullfighting art has brought to Spain for more than 100 years in the towns, when there was no football. You have come to compare the censorship of bullfighting with the murder of Lorca, of course. If you say that you don't like what Lorca writes or his sexual tendencies and you take it out of the way is the same as saying that you don't like bulls and take it out of the way. There are thousands of people who make a living from bullfighting, which today, due to the government we have and how badly it is doing it culturally, is charging entire families. I can tell you that some are starving. You worked in finance. Did you understand how the art business works? In the end, everything helps you. You have to do other things in order to survive until you get the opportunity to fulfill your dreams. You have neither a representative nor a gallery owner. I have worked with many galleries and I have many representatives and dealers. But the world has changed a lot and art galleries are losing weight. People no longer have the need for a gallery owner to tell them what to buy. I respect the work of the gallery owners, but I think they have to be updated. The best relationship that can exist is the one between the one who wants to buy a painting and the one who is creating it. Better without intermediaries? The part of intermediaries is only economic. They take half. You go to a gallery to buy a painting and half of what you pay is for the gallery owner. In the 80's and 90's, you needed to be guided and explained by trends. Today you go to Google and you can learn all that and get to the artist and meet him. Without leaving your home. Is it frowned upon among artists to self-promote their own work as you do? There are all kinds of artists and tastes. Why is it frowned upon for me to promote my thing? Didn't Dalí appear on TV doing TV shows like Pasapalabra in the United States? Didn't Picasso do self-promotion when he went to the bullfights in a tunic and was on the cover of magazines? Of course it is! I understand that there are more introverted artists who prefer not to, but then they have to find a gallery owner and pay 50%. What is Instagram or Facebook? We live in the world of self-promotion, now if you are a painter, do not talk about your work. You define your art as figurative expressionism. What does it consist of? What I like is to start with a real figure and, from the distortion of color, create feelings and the composition of the work. I don't look for the feelings in the obvious, but in the composition. A painting is similar to a song. The touches of color and the strokes create the feelings that transport you where the artist wants to take you. Threshold said that you only learn by stealing from others. Who have you stolen the most from? I even steal from the candy store [laughs]. One steals unconsciously. I have a trained eye to steal and hide it. Of course! Creativity is shared. Art does not belong to the artist who creates it. It is a pure intermediary. Inspiration for me comes from the light and from God, which is reflected in the work so that it can be in the soul of others. It has never mattered to me when I see work inspired by things that I do. On the contrary, it is a compliment. Doesn't it bother you that they plagiarize you a lot? Do you know the difference between a painting that imitates Domingo Zapata and an authentic Domingo Zapata? 200,000 euros. I confess that there is a moment in contemporary art in which I have lost myself. Is everything valid in contemporary art? I said one day that art is not talent but sensitivity. Oh my God, the one that got screwed up! There are so many options and so much talent, that what is lacking in sensitivity. If you see a painting and it provokes a deep feeling that transports you somewhere, for me that is art. We live in a world where we want to turn feelings off with a switch. In the end, that creates a frustration that is pure anxiety that inhibits you or you take some pills to sleep, to wake up, to feel some way ... We are all going to die, but not all of us are going to live. Speaking of living, how have you experienced the pandemic in the United States? With much concern. I have focused on my work and my family. I have tried to move forward and be positive. Mental health is essential and finding a way to meditate and to lower the stress level in which we live. It is increasingly difficult for us to be able to socialize and get together with friends. When this is over, people will go out to sleep with everyone. Although they do not know each other at all. Does not matter! Happiness in the Latino culture is sharing with your family and with your friends.
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