We recently connected with Hugo Orezzoli and have shared our conversation below.
Hugo, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
In my case, I think age has a lot to do with it. I’ll be turning 60 this year, and I feel more confident than ever, much more than when I was younger. I’m not so concerned with being liked or disliked, I don’t try to fit in, peer pressure has no effect on me whatsoever. I’m very happy to be myself and to believe in myself.
Besides age, I think painting has also been, and still is, an important factor. Every painting is a challenge; actually, every individual painting session is a challenge. I’m constantly overcoming hurdles when I’m painting. From the moment an idea for the next painting is born, the challenges begin and there’s no turning back. I just have to move forward, I have to get it out of my system. There’s no way I could live with an idea trapped inside, it has to come out. It is a long process, months from beginning to end. Some sessions are better than others, some more challenging than others, and sometimes, anxiety, insecurity, frustrations will be part of the process. But once you accomplish what you’ve intended, it is just priceless.
So yes, painting has a lot to do with my confidence and self-esteem. The more I overcome obstacles, the more I believe in what I’m capable of accomplishing.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My life is divided into two paths, two creative paths: advertising and painting. I’ve worked in the creative side of advertising for more than 30 years. I’m a creative director for an ad agency in Miami, and I have spent three decades cooking up creative ideas to meet clients’ needs. Many years of turning a small idea into a full campaign, many years of designing logos, ads, billboards, coming up with ideas for TV spots, participating in the production of those spots from beginning to end. Thirty years in advertising and I still love it. It has been challenging, exciting and, yes, even fun, despite the long hours. Once I begin to work on a project, the hunt for the big idea begins. You can’t stop the hunt, it’s on 24/7, it doesn’t matter where you are or what you’re doing, the idea may show up at any time.
I drew and painted pictures since I was a child, using all kinds of mediums. I drew all throughout elementary and high school, but I kind of stopped in college. My advertising career got really busy for the next couple of decades, so I put the drawing aside, although not completely – many times I sketched ideas and storyboards to be presented.
It wasn’t until about 10 to 12 years ago that I started to draw and paint again, and this time I felt the need to tell stories with my paintings. I wanted my paintings to be big and portray the experiences I had while growing up in Lima, Perú. I wanted to share with the world all these stories about my culture. Now, painting these stories has become my purpose. It is refreshing to know that, once my career in advertising becomes part of my past, I’ll continue to work using my creativity and imagination.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I look back and I realize I’ve learned so many different things through the years in order to get the work done. I think one thing that helped me was that I’ve always been open to learning everything, so I became a jack of all trades. In my 30 years working in advertising, I have learned a little and a lot about countless different things, and I had to learn them quickly.
One skill I can say I’m really good at, and which has driven my passion throughout my career, is storytelling. After all these years, I realize upon reflection that there was always a story I wanted to tell, whether through a TV spot or a bus ad, or now, through my painting. Storytelling has always been the engine behind any creative project I got my hands on. I couldn’t paint anything if I didn’t have a story to tell, and one I wanted to share with as many people as I could reach.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
Yes. The painting I’m working on right now is a big challenge. It’s titled “El Velorio de la Abuela” (“Grandma’s Wake”), and it tells a story I remember since I was a kid. The wake took place in my house, so I have a lot of memories from it. I remember that a lot of people came to that wake–realitves, friends, etc., and what really impacted me was to see how some people were more affected than others. Some showed a lot of suffering for the loss, and others seemed to be there just because they were obligated for some reason, they were either eating or having pleasant conversations.
It is a challenge because it is a big format (oil on canvas – 5ft x 6ft ) and many characters are involved, more than in my previous paintings, expressing a range of different emotions.
I realize now that I do not pursue a painting project if I don’t think it’s going to be a challenge. If this painting wasn’t a challenge, I wouldn’t be as excited to work on it. “El Velorio de la Abuela” excites me precisely because it dares me to stretch myself, take risks, make sure every stroke reflects that moment that’s born from my memory and my imagination.
Contact Info:
- Website: hugocolor.com
- Instagram: real.hugorezzoli
- Facebook: Hugo Orezzoli
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmYG5ux0Rkg&t=84s
