Javier Capetillo is a Mexican artist whose passion for art led him to abandon his work as a sailor and dedicate himself to it, creating art pieces full of reflection and awareness.
Javier, tell us, how are you?
You know, right now I just ended watching a season of an anime, as expected it´s pretty weird. These are weird times for all of us but, I have been doing a lot of thinking during the pandemic, mostly about the future. All and all, to be honest, I have a lot of mixed feelings, due to the choices that need to be made as soon as possible, so the pressure is on for sure.
What are your origins?
I´m Mexican, born and raised in Cancun. By the age of 9, I moved to Cabo, on the other side of the country, traded the Caribbean for the Pacific, jungle for dessert, it was a radical change for a nine-year-old boy (I was under shock) for about five minutes. My childhood was amazing, thinking back to those days I would say: What a lucky bastard! The most important part of my upbringing was the connection with the ocean; Poseidon called, and I answered. Even from a young age I felt its power, swallowing deeper and deeper.
When did you get interested in art? Do you remember a specific moment?
My father has always been very creative, he used to draw random things to my sister and I as form of entertainment. My dad was funny guy, as a young boy I always wanted to be like him, so I drew and drew and kept on drawing, with time it just became something I did out of love, creating with my hands was a great feeling.
When does your career begin formally speaking?
My professional story, the short version because the long one is not very interesting. I was living in Cabo and working as a sailor for sailing boats, but one day it was time to give drawing a chance. My first time ever taking formally art/drawing lessons and that was it. I fucking loved it! It never crossed my mind becoming an artist or doing any of the sort, but damn, I knew that I need it to create with my hands one way or the other and make some cash in the process. Authority and myself don´t play nice together so becoming my own boss and investing in myself, I was sold! Plus, my levels of stubbornness are quite high and epic proportions of stubbornness more likely, so failure was not in the menu. Then I moved to Mexico City and began this rollercoaster ride by mid-2013.
