Juan Rayos

I am in love with these books. Juan Rayos illustrates and collages in his journals and kindly shares them with the world on his flickr site. I contacted Juan, and though he doesn’t speak much English, nor do I speak any Spanish, through the magic of an online translation website I was able to ask a few questions about his work:

How long have you been keeping journals?
I began about four years ago. I spent a few months in Rome thanks to a scholarship and there I discovered a “taccuino” [ED: notebook] that captivated me. Previously I had had other notebooks, but the beauty of this one, and the moment that I was living, impelled me to dedicate more time to journaling.

How often do you write in your journals?
It depends, sometimes I write and work in them daily and other times longer periods pass without opening them…

Have youstudied books on journaling?
I especially remember an exhibition of Peter Beard that I saw many years ago in New York. That made an impression to me deeply: the photographies, its newspapers and books, the assembly of the exhibition, he himself… everything was an incredible excess. In general always I have liked the books that gather documentation, sketches and personal notes of painters, writers or architects, often this material is so interesting or more than the final work.

What is your technique collaging images beneath your writing?
Simply to trim and to collage. Some times the painting, the writing or some texture serve to integrate the image trimmed with the notebook or the rest of elements.

What is your inspiration?
Art, religion, news, fashion, history… I like to mix different images and languages. I don’t draw, but rather dedicate myself to collecting, to selecting and to reinterpreting. I trim newspaper photos or magazines, I color above clumsily, I rewrite text fragments that I want to remember…

Thanks Juan, for the beautiful books and telling us a little bit about your inspiration. Checl out more of Juans books below.

More at Juans Flickr Site
Also visit www.juanrayos.com