I Have Just Begun to Create
When most people are winding down in retirement Dot and Wall artist, Miguel Caldas, is just getting started. His lifelong passion for art has kept him full of life and yearning to create and perfect his talent. He is quite the intriguing artist and this is the story into how he went from businessman to full time artist.
Miguel Caldas
Geometric abstractionist. Tireless perfectionist.
In the beginning, it seemed everyone understood that Caldas was an artist at heart except Caldas himself. It would take him a few years to finally let the art in him pour out into the extraordinary canvases he now creates.
While studying business in college, his friends kept suggesting that he’d be a natural as an architect because of his love for design, colors and shadows. So finally in 1973, he decided to study architecture and indeed discovered his love for the science of building. He enjoyed the practical and expressive elements that went into an architectural design. He learned to play with colors, shadows and measurements.
Yet with having a family to support, his focus was on providing for them and less with becoming an artist. As luck would have it, Caldas had married his high school sweetheart, and she, like him, had not yet discovered she was an artist. Instead, they both at this point were admirers of art. They frequented galleries, mingled in the art world and began collecting beautiful pieces of art.
One faithful Christmas, Caldas decided that he’d make everyone’s gifts that year. He’d been painting here and there, but nothing consistent. His family loved their paintings and the rave reviews began a spark in his heart. Painting definitely became his hobby.
His wife, at this point, is studying art and starting to paint. The more she learns, the more he learns. Art slowly becomes an integral part of their marriage. It is a shared interest they both enjoy being immersed in. Slowly he was learning more and more about art, color and contrast and developing his hidden talent.
In the 1980’s he owned a family ice cream business. He took pleasure in designing the look of the shops. This is really the time in his life that his architectural background began to meld into his artistic side. The more creative he got to be at work, the more it crept into his life outside of work.
He began painting art just to display in his home next to the collection he and his wife had acquired. Friends would visit their home and admire their art collection, not knowing that some of the pieces they were admiring were created by Caldas. His wife took note of just how many people loved his art. Even their friend who owned a gallery, marveled at his works of art.
So one day, his dear wife came home with an arm full of canvases. Stunned, he asked her when she would have time to paint all those canvases. They were a gift for him.
She told him too many friends had praised his paintings so it was time for him to embrace his talent and create. Fast forward a few years, in his 40’s he walks away from his business to become a full time, full fledged artist.
The creative process
I must say, he is unique in his style as an artist because as an architect, he views each painting as a project. He forms a schematic for each piece with measurements, colors and materials. Thus, his paintings are very methodical. Each painting has a memory, so to speak, from birth to the completion. It is a structured approach kind of like writing. A writer will make an outline of how the story will begin, flow and end.
Caldas knew his style or niche from the beginning. He was attracted to lines, structure and linear looks.
He takes his architectural view and translates it into an art form. His goal is for his art to leave his studio and enrich a place. He likes people to observe his art and form an opinion, start a conversation.
Caldas likes to share the story of how his pieces are created. It’s a great satisfaction to him when he shares that story to the person that acquires a piece. So if you see him at the next Dot and Wall gallery showing, make sure to strike up a conversation with him!
It is just the begining
Now in his 70’s, Caldas is even more enthralled by art than before. Painting for him means he’s just now entering into a phase of creation as his colleagues are more worried about getting older and passing on. He says it’s a privilege to be his age and be thinking of the beginning instead of worried about the end of this precious life.
He is liberated by the infinite possibilities of his artistic creations. He drinks in every moment of his life intrigued by the different colors and textures that surround him. He is not worried about aging and dying. He is as alive as the world around him.
To see more of Caldas’ works, go here.