*1989 in Quito, Ecuador; lives and works in Berlin
An Artist Interview #46
Irving Ramó
by Irving Ramó
The Viewers, 2024
Oil & acrylic on canvas
300 x 220 cm
What are you currently working on?
Right now I’m continuing to work on this dramatic romance between violence and desire, the boundaries of where the body ends and where the body begins, how bodies belong to a territory or to a collective body, and who decides this.
The carousel as a motif became important because it directly relates to ideas of power: the martyr, the hero, the one who dominates. Repeating these figures in a circle was also a way to make them lose importance, to create a kind of decay of the image.
At the same time, the carousel itself was historically a mechanism for military training. So I was merging this with the object of fantasy and playfulness that simulates a gallop, in a cycle that reminds me of this primitive shape of ritual acts: spinning in circles, in trance. I think the Equestrian Portrait still carries a very strong symbolic charge. You see it everywhere, monuments in plazas all around the world, always with a rider. It’s a reminder of power, of decisions, of history, of who we have been and who we have fought beside.
Recently, through conversations during studio visits, the work shifted toward an interest in the unstable dynamic of who mounts whom, and who submits to being mounted. Finding this brutal amount of desire and eroticism that the act contains. This very primitive impulse which hasn’t changed; we have just changed the object we submit to being mounted.
Now I’m working on sculptural and installation-based pieces where, instead of a single hero, I create scenarios with multiple figures, what I call Cavaliers, interacting on the horse. It’s about dissolving these fixed roles, repeating and complicating them, and opening up questions around power, masculinity, and desire in the flesh of the canvas.
What are you currently working on?
Right now I’m continuing to work on this dramatic romance between violence and desire, the boundaries of where the body ends and where the body begins, how bodies belong to a territory or to a collective body, and who decides this.
Lately I’ve been obsessed with the equestrian portrait. I see there the distillation of the still-prevailing notion of power, this archetype of the hero, and I’m particularly interested in the dialogue between training and entertainment, these mechanisms of simulacrum that we have created throughout history to keep people ready for war, to define spaces.
The carousel as a motif became important because it directly relates to ideas of power: the martyr, the hero, the one who dominates. Repeating these figures in a circle was also a way to make them lose importance, to create a kind of decay of the image.
At the same time, the carousel itself was historically a mechanism for training militaries. So I was merging these two topics that I often work with: training versus entertainment, repetition, and everyday scenarios that relate to these structures. I think the horse still carries a very strong symbolic charge. You see it everywhere, monuments in plazas all around the world, always with a rider. It’s a reminder of power, of decisions, of history, of who we have been and who we have fought beside.
Recently, through conversations during studio visits, the work shifted toward an interest in the unstable dynamic of who mounts whom, and who submits to being mounted. Finding this brutal amount of desire and eroticism that the act contains. This very primitive impulse which hasn’t changed; we have just changed the object we submit to being mounted.
Now I’m working on sculptural and installation-based pieces where, instead of a single hero, I create scenarios with multiple figures, what I call Cavaliers, interacting on the horse. It’s about dissolving these fixed roles, repeating and complicating them, and opening up questions around power, masculinity, and desire in the flesh of the canvas.
by Irving Ramó
Equestrian Carousel, 2025
Oil on canvas, aluminium frames, aluminum spears
185 x 135 cm (each)
Your work raises questions about gender, masculinity and sexuality. How do you address these topics in your work?
From a symbolic place, as we have discussed, working in dialogue with the painters who came before me while taking on the same subjects, a system is constructed, a branching of dialogues, through which I try to sustain the work on strong roots while offering a moment of presence.
The rhythm of the painting, the dissolving images and anthropomorphic figures that are appearing, movement itself as a symbol that defaces and erases, but still leaves behind the texture and the first scratches of memory on the canvas. It is all about the voluptuousness of the images.
In these new works, by placing multiple figures together, the image becomes less stable. It’s no longer just about the heroic figure—it opens up questions around masculinity, vulnerability, and sexuality. There is also this layer of repetition again, which dissolves clear identities and fixed meanings.
Your work raises questions about gender, masculinity and sexuality. How do you address these topics in your work?
From a symbolic place, as we have discussed, working in dialogue with the painters who came before me while taking on the same subjects, a system is constructed, a branching of dialogues, through which I try to sustain the work on strong roots while offering a moment of presence.
The rhythm of the painting, the dissolving images and anthropomorphic figures that are appearing, movement itself as a symbol that defaces and erases, but still leaves behind the texture and the first scratches of memory on the canvas. It is all about the voluptuousness of the images.
In these new works, by placing multiple figures together, the image becomes less stable. It’s no longer just about the heroic figure—it opens up questions around masculinity, vulnerability, and sexuality. There is also this layer of repetition again, which dissolves clear identities and fixed meanings.
by Irving Ramó
Dionysian Victory Bouqet, 2025
Oil on canvas
185 x 135 cm
by Irving Ramó
After the Gallop, 2026
Oil on canvas, aluminum frame, aluminum spear
185 x 135 cm
What is your approach to starting a new work or series?
It depends, but lately it often starts with researching historical symbols and gestures. I look at how certain poses repeat, how a hand is positioned, how a body is arranged. These things function almost like visual mantras that construct meaning over time.
I work a lot with references from European painting. But I’m not interested in criticizing them directly; it’s more about learning to unlearn. I approach them genealogically, trying to understand how these images were constructed and how they can be rearticulated today.
After the first sketched idea of the composition, there’s usually a digital phase where I work with visual references, often processed using Photoshop and 3D modeling. At that stage the work becomes very detailed, sometimes too full of information. So after that I go into another drawing session where I can transform the image more freely, merge forms, distort bodies, and let things become more fluid. It also helps me reduce and clean the composition, to focus on what is essential. It’s kind of like bringing the images back to the slaughterhouse before they are served.
What is your approach to starting a new work or series?
It depends, but lately it often starts with researching historical symbols and gestures. I look at how certain poses repeat, how a hand is positioned, how a body is arranged. These things function almost like visual mantras that construct meaning over time.
I work a lot with references from European painting. But I’m not interested in criticizing them directly; it’s more about learning to unlearn. I approach them genealogically, trying to understand how these images were constructed and how they can be rearticulated today.
After the first sketched idea of the composition, there’s usually a digital phase where I work with visual references, often processed using Photoshop and 3D modeling. At that stage the work becomes very detailed, sometimes too full of information. So after that I go into another drawing session where I can transform the image more freely, merge forms, distort bodies, and let things become more fluid. It also helps me reduce and clean the composition, to focus on what is essential. It’s kind of like bringing the images back to the slaughterhouse before they are served.
What are your thoughts on composition?
I think a lot in terms of communication. Having an industrial and graphic design background, I’m always aware that the image needs to direct the viewer very clearly, to communicate and, through painting, evoke emotions.
There is a strong focus on where I would like the gaze to move, how movement works within the image. I often create what I call coordinates, almost like a structure or a map of the composition. Sometimes I even mark this in the sketches, indicating directions and tensions. A hook that helps the viewer to get it.
There is also a balance between control and spontaneity. Some works are built through many layers, while others come from very few gestures. I’m interested in keeping both—this richness of movement, but also moments of clarity and reduction.
What are your thoughts on composition?
I think a lot in terms of communication. Having an industrial and graphic design background, I’m always aware that the image needs to direct the viewer very clearly, to communicate and, through painting, evoke emotions.
There is a strong focus on where I would like the gaze to move, how movement works within the image. I often create what I call coordinates, almost like a structure or a map of the composition. Sometimes I even mark this in the sketches, indicating directions and tensions. A hook that helps the viewer to get it.
There is also a balance between control and spontaneity. Some works are built through many layers, while others come from very few gestures. I’m interested in keeping both—this richness of movement, but also moments of clarity and reduction.
Photo: Luis Bortt
What is the relationship between your sketches and your paintings? And do you exhibit them as individual pieces?
I haven’t shown them so far; they feel more personal. But they’ve become increasingly important, also for myself.
The sketch is where everything starts to make sense. It allows me to define the structure, the movement, and the intention of the image. Sometimes the final painting stays very close to the sketch, and sometimes it transforms completely.
Technically, I also like to keep traces of the drawing within the painting. I’m not trying to hide the sketch; it becomes part of the work.
In terms of materials, I mainly work with oil on canvas, sometimes combining it with acrylic layers.
Color operates mostly as a catalyst or mediator between the fleshy image and the viewer. There is often a layering process, but I also try to keep a certain immediacy, moments where just a few gestures define the whole image.
What is the relationship between your sketches and your paintings? And do you exhibit them as individual pieces?
I haven’t shown them so far; they feel more personal. But they’ve become increasingly important, also for myself.
The sketch is where everything starts to make sense. It allows me to define the structure, the movement, and the intention of the image. Sometimes the final painting stays very close to the sketch, and sometimes it transforms completely.
Technically, I also like to keep traces of the drawing within the painting. I’m not trying to hide the sketch; it becomes part of the work.
In terms of materials, I mainly work with oil on canvas, sometimes combining it with acrylic layers.
Color operates mostly as a catalyst or mediator between the fleshy image and the viewer. There is often a layering process, but I also try to keep a certain immediacy, moments where just a few gestures define the whole image.
by Irving Ramó
Demasiado Táctil ‘Too Touchy’, 2024
Oil on canvas
185 x 145 cm
by Irving Ramó
Exhibition view Moto & Azione
N24 Galería de arte, Quito, Ecuador
2024
How did you develop your practice?
I never had a formal painting education. But I was always drawing, but I didn’t go to an art academy, it wasn’t accessible.
I learned a lot through observation. I used to order art books from the United States and keep a few magnifying glasses in the studio to study the layering and brushwork. Later, while traveling, I spent long periods of time in museums digesting the paintings of the old masters. It was almost like re-coding myself.
Confronting life those works everything changed, really looking at paintings not just looking, but understanding how they are constructed. You begin to see where artists hesitate, where the brushstroke is raw, where and how things are resolved.
For example, with painters like Velázquez or Rubens, you can see how they combine very loose, powerful brushstrokes with delicate transitions. That was very important for me to understand.
I also worked with murals for a while. That experience taught me something different—how to work quickly, how to deal with scale and structure.
Beyond that, it was a lot of self-learning: books, videos, constant practice. I was just very obsessed with it.
How did you develop your practice?
I never had a formal painting education. But I was always drawing, but I didn’t go to an art academy, it wasn’t accessible.
I learned a lot through observation. I used to order art books from the United States and keep a few magnifying glasses in the studio to study the layering and brushwork. Later, while traveling, I spent long periods of time in museums digesting the paintings of the old masters. It was almost like re-coding myself.
Confronting life those works everything changed, really looking at paintings not just looking, but understanding how they are constructed. You begin to see where artists hesitate, where the brushstroke is raw, where and how things are resolved.
For example, with painters like Velázquez or Rubens, you can see how they combine very loose, powerful brushstrokes with delicate transitions. That was very important for me to understand.
I also worked with murals for a while. That experience taught me something different—how to work quickly, how to deal with scale and structure.
Beyond that, it was a lot of self-learning: books, videos, constant practice. I was just very obsessed with it.
by Irving Ramó
Not all mules are horses (Flag #3), 2023
Oil and acrylic on canvas & polyester
260 x 180cm
Contact
interview
Leopold Schaefer
Luis Bortt