Puebla based contemporary artist, H.G. Schiavon, has been honoring his self-taught skills in contemporary art for the past several years. His work is based on body shapes as mirrors and reflections of ourselves and those around us; vehicles to explore the outer and inner world generating awareness of our individuality and our community.
How did you get into art?
It all started because of my sensibility. Since I was a child, my feelings for everything were very strong; so I looked for something that could help me harmonize the highs and lows for this condition?? of mine. Sports helped me a lot but at the same time I needed a more intimate space for solitude, so I decided to start writing. This was my first encounter with the magic of expressing myself. I use to write romantic and melancholic poetry and this form of creation gave me the chance to embrace all my emotions.
Writing continued to grow in me; I really enjoyed and still enjoy sharing my thoughts in my texts that aboard the introspection as human beings. So throughout my hunger to continue to express myself, I discovered the magic of painting in my early s twenties. It was a revelation for me. I found in painting the glorious space where my sensibility could be expressed and be able to make tangible my feelings and thoughts. I was amazed by the power of art via colors, textures and materials. The energy I felt creating paintings was very similar to the one I experimented playing sports but with more mysticism, more transcendence. I started to read a lot about art, to see documentaries about my favorite artists, read art history books and so on. As a self taught artist I was open and I will continue to be, for all the knowledge and possibilities art can offer to human nature.
How would you describe your style? What makes your art special?
Abstract art was my first form of expression. My main inspiration was Pollock, so my early paintings were kind of a tribute for him and the force of his art. As I moved forward with my self education in arts and artists, I was able to develop a more particular perception to manifest my feelings. I needed to se more “humanity” in my artworks; since the begging that was my inspiration. The faces commenced to appear; I found in faces the perfect mirror and also a obvious tool for human beings to recognize each other. I started painting faces and bodies in my canvases ; both, faces and bodies always subtle, like if they are hiding in the abstraction but at the same time evident for me and the spectator to find them. I emphasize in how extraordinary is to be alive as a human being; a force of nature that inhabits two worlds that are the same, the tangible and intangible, mind and body. This is represented in my art pieces that today they can be described as abstract expressionism.
How do you go about developing your work?
I think the most interesting thing and the one I like the most is that I do not do sketches. Since I started painting I found that being able to be free in the canvas is a beautiful path for excellence and perfection. For this I’m still influenced by some of the things that were said about Pollock; “he painted like a jazz musician”. For me that’s the way, I create the artwork in my head during several days and then when it is completed… I go to the canvas, always with the notion that if something arises in the moment that feels coherent and beautiful, I can incorporate it to it . At the end , I’m very conscious about why I started painting and it was because of my need to express myself. For me, expression is most procured in a space of freedom. I’m also very interested on defying myself constantly in order to expand that feeling of creator. 
Who or what influences you?
About who, my first inspiration was Jackson Pollock. Then throughout my self discover journey I found other amazing artists that influenced me. George Baselitz, George Condo, Michel Basquiat, Wilfredo Lam. Mexican artists like Rufino Tamayo and David Alfaro Siqueiros. And more recent amazing artists, Daniel Arsham and Rashid Johnson.
About what influences me; movies, photography, music, clothes, people, I would say that my inspiration is in the aesthetics of everything. If you look closely and with conscience, you can find wonders in everything that surrounds us. I really like a quote by Rei Kawakubo, “For something to be beautiful it doesn’t have to be pretty”. So I practice this ideology -not to judge what my senses are giving me as information but better to interpret them and find the treasure of what is hidden.
What are you planning to do next?
After a long time of thinking about it, now I’m merging my passion for painting and writing, so the last pieces I’ve been working on, incorporate some powerful phrases of my own and fusion them with the faces and bodies of my paintings. I found this new pieces very mystical as two worlds collide in an harmonious way. The quotes are discreet but very powerful; the artwork finished is a reminder of our power as human beings. The mirror where we can find our essence, our greatness, our fragility, and our sensibility to see the amazing opportunity that we were given.
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