EQ: Esteban Quintana de la Fuente.
I can define myself as someone with a generalist mindset, self-taught and multidisciplinary artist who express myself especially through painting, drawing, illustration, music, writing, photography and philosophy. I was born in Havana City on July 10, 1966. My mother, a preschool teacher and my father, a draftsman, painter, photographer and sculptor (that is, I have no choice, it's genetics). From a very early age, my curiosity and need to create, investigate and invent, led me to venture into two parallel paths: art and knowing how things worked.
The origin of my multidisciplinary artistic streak
The artistic side was manifested from a very young age through drawing, painting, clay modeling, playing musical instruments such as the drum and guitar and dabbling briefly in theater and singing.
Around the age of 18, I began to play the drums and even started a short period of lessons with my teacher and friend Armando García. Then I continued on my own, covering some drummers of my preference, staying at the end with Neil Peart, the drummer of the Canadian band called Rush, who marked not only my style, but also the configuration of my drums. I can not forget to mention that in all this period of self-learning, the support of friends like Alberto and Omar Gomez were key to my development, both for providing me with the references that I covered, and for contributing in the manufacture of some parts of my drums. A little later I bought an upright piano to initiate myself in this instrument.
Then began a long and prolific period in which I was part of four rock bands as a drummer, until I later became a soloist in electroacoustic music, which was possible thanks to the support of my friend and pianist Otto Caballero, whom I met when I was part of the band Paisaje con Río. Related to the traditional piano and together with another member of this band and friend, the guitarist Iván Domenech, the musical project Chemical Lab materializes, with very good reception by the public when it was presented in concert.
At the same time, I created almost a hundred plastic works that were exhibited in 7 personal exhibitions and about 20 collective ones, both in Cuba and abroad, most of them acquired by collectors mainly from countries such as Spain, Portugal and the United States. A peculiarity in my personal exhibitions is that I added, together with the paintings, short stories or poems and ambient music composed for the occasion. The effect of this multimedia presentation was very much appreciated by the public and also by other artists. This was the reason why I composed ambient music themes for other artists' exhibitions.
In photography, although to a lesser extent, I made several personal works especially related to artistic photography, architecture, portrait and model, although they were never exhibited. In addition to this, I work as a photojournalist, covering cultural events and making promotional materials for artists, both profile photos, curriculum, as well as photos of their works. These reports were also made on video, most of the time as part of a group called Kanamaster, composed of multidisciplinary people with a very active imagination.
Photos below: photographs taken in Cuba with the Russian Zenit EM or 12XP camera and Kodak 35mm film.
My early interest in science, technology, mind and spirituality
Regarding my curiosity to know how things work, from a very young age it was very common for me to take apart or literally break toys and other objects to see what was inside them. Not oblivious to this behavior, my parents, instead of stopping me and scolding me, encouraged this curiosity and also my connection to art. For this reason, they bought me toys such as microscopes, telescopes, assemble toys and everything that was possible to acquire in Cuba at that time. To this were added musical instruments such as the saxophone, the harmonica, the electric guitar, along with other toys and musical instruments that were manufactured by my father. This favorable environment in my childhood, encouraged me to continue nurturing this curiosity until today. At the age of 15 I discovered classical physics, thanks to the books of the MIR publishing house of the former Soviet Union that were sold in the bookstores of Havana. From that moment on I began to expand, and gradually became interested in quantum physics, Zen Buddhism, technology, science in general, philosophy, psychology, the brain, the mind and the spirit, all guided by the same intention of my childhood: "to see how things were on the inside". These interests allowed me to interact with like-minded people and to participate in groups or courses such as the psychology and meditation course given by Father Marciano Garcia at the Church of Carmen in 1994.
Photos below: musical instruments, toys, the piñata and the gladiator costume made by my father.
Cardboard toy
Wooden and cardboard drum
Wooden and cardboard guitar
Cuban Christmas
Piñata made of cardboard
Gladiator costume made with cloth and cardboard
The support of my parents and the scarcity that progressively conditioned life in Cuba, something that enhanced the inventiveness of the Cuban, allowed me to learn many things, to collaborate, to create and seek solutions with the resources and tools I had at my fingertips. This not only reinforced my curiosity to know how things worked but also my ability to create them, a very useful experience to apply both on and off the island.
Photos below (from left to right):
1) Year 1997 - Video camera helmet: designed for shooting in situations where it was essential to have both hands free.
2) Year 2005 - Making a cardboard prototype at Mediasat company.
3) Year 2018 - Laptop stand: this year the doctor diagnosed me with an injury in the cervical region caused by the posture maintained during many hours of work in front of the computer. It was required to give rest to this area and the proper posture was lying down. As I could not stop working, this was the solution. The materials: PVC pipes and connectors and a chipboard tailored exactly to the measurements and posture I would adopt. Crafted on December 5, 2018.
4) Year 2021 - Lens calibrator: cardboard mock-up with the precise measurements to calibrate the camera lens.
1) Hands-free video shooting prototype
2) Cardboard prototyping
3) EQPhix v1: Laptop stand
4) DIY lens calibration
Unfortunately, I have lost many photos, especially from Cuba, related to these jobs, both mine and my father’s. All that remains is the experience and a memory that is never forgotten.
The birth of the core or unified philosophy
But all this wide range of interests and incursions revealed a particularity: the unification, that is, to feel that I was not doing different things, that everything started from a core that contained all the latent possibilities that were manifested according to the intention/inspiration that triggered them. This idea was expressed in my countless notes, as well as in painting and music.
The first painting on this concept was made and also exhibited in 1989 (image below). It depicted a monk and a sphere or dot reflecting the surroundings. On April 21, 1997, the exhibition called "The Landscapes of Man", held at the International Press Center in Havana, was based on this concept. It was also my last public presentation in Cuba before emigrating. As for electroacoustic music, the first work dedicated to this " core" was composed in 1994 under the title "El Agujero" (The Hole). That same year I made a multimedia presentation at the Computer Palace in Havana. It was an unusual event for this technological environment, as the talks of the guest speakers, the dance and the music were dedicated to the spirit.
1989 Expo Itineraria (Itinerary Exhibition), held at Servitec headquarter, Havana City.
Some of the notebooks with notes related to my personal research of the core philosophy.
IN MADRID
I arrived in Madrid in September 1998 with 15 paintings and the objective of continuing my artistic career. On February 5, 1999 I had my first personal exhibition at the Plastic Arts Workshop School in Elvira Street and later I participated in the project La Ciudad del Arte at La Vaguada, both in Madrid. Despite these and other attempts, art did not seem to be my path in Spain. Instead, other opportunities appeared that allowed me a quick entry into the working world. Between 1999 and 2006 I worked in two companies as a graphic designer and illustrator. In 2008 I decided to become a freelance, providing multidisciplinary communication services to companies and individuals. My first clients came from people I had worked with, which favored the word of mouth recommendation and with it, the possibility of getting new projects.
Freelance work was a challenge, as it tested my ability to adapt, speed of learning and the practical usefulness of a generalist and multidisciplinary mind to face very different projects and roles.
In 1999 on the photography set of Factoría Imagen.
At the headquarters of M.E.D.I.A.S.A.T. Spain: on the left in 2001 and on the right in 2005.
THE CURRENT STAGE
After more than 12 years as a freelancer, I felt that the time had come to pay more attention to my personal project of art and philosophy, which had remained all this time evolving in the background, leaving the door open to collaboration with other projects. In 2018 I took the first step with the series of digital paintings and illustrations called Flowerya. Later, in September 2021, I start painting the series Being, keeping my figurative surrealist style, fluid scenarios or objects and unusual perspectives, once again revealing my inner world through a character. Simultaneously, I continue shaping my music, photography and philosophy projects, with which I seek to expose the experiences accumulated over the years, both in the creative, analytical and personal growth.
For more details about this period, click here: From Within.
INTERESTS
Create or collaborate in artistic, educational, scientific and technological projects, with special interest in children's education and personal growth.