Black and White Contemporary Jazz Painting

Josep Borell was born in Alcoy (Alicante) on January 25th, 1969. He was born into a family without a traditional artistic background, although he always had the support of his parents and older sister. From a young age he showed a great passion for illustration and the comic world, comics being the reason why he started as a draftsman and cartoonist. It was not strange, during his school years, that the teacher caught Josep in the middle of class drawing in his notebook. Once he finished Elementary School, he started attending the Arts and Crafts School in his hometown where he studied technical drawing from 1984 to 1988. During this period he combined studies with small jobs in textile design, illustration and caricatures. From 1988 to 1989, he was called to serve in the military. At the end of this period he felt the need to continue with his education, but focused on what motivated him the most “The Portrait”. He then went to the Fine Arts School of Alcoy where he did not stay longer than three months, since the education he was receiving there did not match his expectations and interests. After that, he registered at the Superior School of Saint Carlos of Valencia, but soon he started to feel a deep disaffection with the academic system, he did not hesitate to express his disagreements with the faculty, which lead him to quit some months later. Borrell’s rebelling against the artistic education he so desired turned him to become a nonconformist artist who struggled to achieve his goals his own way. Upon his return to Alcoy he started taking classes at the Academy-Studio of the artist Paco Egea, where Josep finally felt comfortable with what he did. It was here where he acquired a solid base on drawing. This was a very busy period for the artist, since he combined his studies in the academy with a part-time job in a furniture store, in addition to his night sessions painting the first commissions he had of pastel portraits. He felt such a passion for painting that he would spend weekends on the beach, painting portraits, improving his technique and trying to capture the features of people with the fewest strokes possible. It was this last activity which provided Borrell with a masterful skill in the portrait art. Once he mastered drawing, he began developing his oil technique, which he learned to manage with the help of different artists in their studios. It did not take long for him to master the practice, since he had a very solid formation to lean on. In 1997, given that his work as a portrait artist allowed him to have economical independence, he settled down and married his wife Aranza. In 2002, he had his first exhibition in The Medical Society of Malaga. He is a great admirer of Sorolla and Dali, as he looks to adapt the color and light of Sorolla with the surrealist touches of Dali. Borrell goes as far as including a transgressor element that breaks the relaxation that his nudes transmit, for example the beetle which is in homage to Dali who used to paint ants in his paintings. Josep is an unassuming person who enjoys the natural beauty of things. He does not like urban environments, neither cars nor impositions of the present day society, which drag us into an artificial and stressed life. He lives in the country with his wife Aranza and his son Izan (10 years). His hobbies include going on long walks in the countryside and to sing with an amateur rock band, which rehearse every Saturday. Rock and Heavy Metal are his favorite kinds of music, and KISS is his favorite rock band. He is also interested photography.