“I find it impossible to paint without music”: Dis Berlin, the Spanish painter who captivates Almodóvar

There are 40 paintings under a title that exudes vitality and poetry in equal parts: My heart still has many songs to sing. It is also a statement of intent from its author, Dis Berlin (Ciria, Soria, 1959). “It is one of those titles that arose spontaneously, but that expresses something very sincere and profound: the desire to continue creating and the certainty that my sensitivity continues to renew itself, and therefore, I continue to enjoy listening to a song, reading a book, watching a movie, looking at a painting, or walking through a garden,” enumerates the artist, who also pays tribute with this phrase that names the exhibition to the role that music plays in his art and creative process. In his life.

“Music is present in my day-to-day life from the moment I wake up. I find it impossible to paint without music. I am addicted to musical dopamine. This leads me to be in a constant search, and my curiosity has led me to explore, especially through YouTube, the popular music of almost every continent, particularly from the sixties, which is the brightest decade that has ever existed. It's incredible the amount of treasures waiting to be rediscovered,” he celebrates.

Music is present in my day-to-day life from the moment I wake up. I find it impossible to paint without music”

In the scene

For the fifth time, and until January 30th, the Madrid gallery Guillermo de Osma dedicates an exhibition to one of the most prominent creators of his generation, who embraced figuration in the Madrid of the 1980s. It was a decade in which he began to succeed as a visual artist, eventually becoming one of the most unique icons of the “movida” cultural movement. Then and now, his palette overflowing with colors evokes the fauvists and the magical realism of the 1920s. His aim is to use images that no one else knows or has used before, which he finds in his immense archive from the 1940s and 1950s. He stops in the 1960s, not going beyond that period.

Through the big screen, his rich and personal creative universe has been captured in the viewers' retina. Paintings, photomontages, and even sculptures by the artist have paraded through the main titles of Pedro Almodóvar's filmography: from Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990) to The Room Next Door (2024). Sometimes as mere props, other times as part of the story. “Cinema is another one of my addictions, it is as necessary to me as eating. Pedro Almodóvar has appreciated my work for years and has incorporated my works into his films, which naturally makes me feel proud. With The Room Next Door, which I found superb, the feeling of seeing one of my paintings as part of such a well-rounded work has also been very exciting,” he says.

The admiration that the artist and director have for each other is mutual. The connection between the paintings of the former and the films of the latter is more than confirmed. “I believe that Almodóvar is becoming an increasingly perfectionist and meticulous creator, and that is something I share. The importance of aesthetics in his work makes me visually enjoy his cinema. The same happens to me with his stories. There is a search for the emotional that I find very akin, being a lover of 19th-century novels,” the artist explains.

Inhabit the painting

The new exhibition brings together landscapes and interiors populated by objects. Human figures rarely appear in his compositions, which are treated almost like objects themselves. The combination of these elements creates paradoxical scenes full of mystery and, often, a sense of humor. Dis Berlin manages to create an almost metaphysical atmosphere that exudes a stillness and silence that invite meditation. This intention deliberately arises as a counterpoint to the confusion and emptiness that the artist perceives in the current world. He explains it himself.

“Seeking mystery and poetry in painting is instinctive. Despite its apparent unity, the exhibition addresses different records and themes. I imagine that if the viewer gets involved and looks at the paintings calmly, they will be able to appreciate the different worlds that I invite them to visit. Therefore, rather than to reflection, my invitation is to contemplation and introspection, that is, to enter the painting and spiritually inhabit it. Perhaps this is asking too much, but it remains a fair expectation after the enormous effort it takes me to paint a picture,” he says.

Everything in Dis Berlin's work is meticulously planned. From the title with which he conceives each painting, to the narrative that emanates from the whole. And, in addition to songs, there are many other things that his painter's heart longs to accomplish. “I would like to have time for the most experimental part of my work. I have a bunch of projects started, both on my computer and derived from my image archive, that I would like to resume this year after Arco. They are not commercial works and, therefore, it will be harder to showcase them, but I have all my hopes set on surprising myself.”

Berlin does not fit in: painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, photography, photomontage, or ceramics. He has “touched” everything since the beginning, combining aesthetic and technical proposals with the work of a gallery owner, editor, and curator.