Art is love, art is freedom, art is emotional, art is all the things that make Felix Feltrin who he is today. Born in Italy to a Dominican mother, Felix was already born on the opposite side of the spectrum as others “Where I was born in Italy there were no black people, so I was always the only black guy. Even though there wasn’t any extreme racism, I always felt a little taste since I was alone.” Since then he has found being alone and his individuality to be some of his greatest strengths when it comes to creating his art. As an abstract artist, the work is often wrongly diminished to being something that anybody could do, but to Felix, nobody can do what he does because they’ve never lived a second in his life “If you saw my paintings and then if I told you that those were the moments in my life where I felt most alone then it would all make sense.” The power of his art stems from his understanding of the moments and environments that surround him as he works on canvas. It doesn’t all start and end with a cynical sense of being a loner for Felix though, initially drawn into art from his affinity for Graffiti as a young boy at the age of 12, he was immediately drawn in by the bright colors and emotions. Although what was being done may have been against the law, the important part was that there was a background story in which he resonated with that other people simply didn’t know.
From there, Felix knew that it was time to take another step “Finding out a way to create for myself was something that was very close to me, so when I moved to Austria from Italy I began to paint on canvas.” Needless to say life changed a lot, Austria is a tiny country compared to Italy so there was a great adjustment to be made. Nonetheless there was an energy that had to be pushed so he took it onto canvas four fateful years ago. Moving to a new setting may be intimidating, but then pursuing an art craft on top of that is certainly no easy feat, especially on your own. Yet, the open-minded and supportive environment in Austria nurtured a sense of self-sufficiency that is required to survive in art. Since then passion and emotion have been the common denominators for his work as he pursues freedom more than anything money or fame could offer him, “What I wanted to do was get dirty and start making my heart beat like how it was when I was doing Graffiti.” By realizing that art was what his soul needed to remain calm as he sought his understanding of his “why?” he is now able to create freely. Whether it’s the use of colors or shapes to represent a feeling or a moment in time, art has become what Felix refers to as his translation of emotions.
However, his willingness to let the art speak for itself does not mean he is lost in his work. “I’m something like a cowboy riding a crazy horse, I have to go where he wants to go.” Typically, his place is a mess when he paints so it is necessary for him to step back and just observe, even giving a 24 hour rest period just to come back and look at the painting to see if he still understands what he was looking to interpret just the day before. Since allowing his art to become a part of him, there has been a synchronized day by day evolution that began in Austria. “When there is negative energy around you, it becomes harder to do it, but I was somewhere where nobody told me I can’t or shouldn’t do it so I realized this is destined to be a part of my life and that I could never quit.” The strength and connection between artwork and real life is what makes the parallels so relevant for Felix as he finds there to be something in every moment “Everyday when you take the train, you could fall in love with somebody for five minutes, just for one stop, but in those five minutes you’ll feel your emotions create colors and shapes or whatever it is, but regardless you can feel it, so that’s what I use to paint.”
“Not everything around us is something we can see, there are many things that you can’t see but they exist, so although somebody can say they don’t believe in God because they can’t see him, that same person wouldn’t say they don’t believe happiness even though they can’t see it.” Felix understands that with being an abstract artists comes a lot of misconceptions and judgements about what he does being “easy” but he see’s no issues with it. “I always invite people to do what I do, because I know it’s something so emotional that most people wouldn’t even try it.” The power that his art brings to an artist allows for them to dig deep into the emotions in a way understood to be a little secret since nobody else can see or speak the language that the colors speak. A language where something as simple as the drip of paint down to the bottom can be interpreted as a representation of the butterfly effect. The liberation these endeavors have paved way for now allow Felix to travel all around the world as he has gone everywhere from Brazil to Miami.
It all started with a simple trip back to the Dominican Republic where his mother was born “I remember getting off the plane and it didn’t even feel like I was in a different country, it felt like I was in a different planet, with all the black people around me I just felt so comfortable and from then I didn’t have any doubt anymore.” Since then the places that art has taken Felix have brought him nothing but gratitude as now he can go to Brazil and use the night stars shining in the darkness as an inspiration for the construct of his next art piece, something he was unable to do in Europe. Doing this has also allowed him to draw some deeper parallels “At the end of the day, the truth is if you look deeply at the differences between these countries, you see the same differences you’ll find in the people around you.” Now the fruits of his labor have brought him working at a factory for 1,000 Euros a month to being able to deny 1,000 Euro purchases of his art at his own wine bar in Austria where a plethora of his work hangs.
“I think my mind has went to another level since I absorbed so much from so many countries that I’ve now become a very world-wide person.” The liberation of the art is something that Felix continues to solely pursue as he continues his journey driven by joy. “Everything that I see, listen to, and know is around me is related to the Chaos theory which is an inspiration for me.” So as long as there is breathe and the blessings of senses in his body, Felix will never be able to stop creating, and that is his promise.
