Art Brut is one of the strong sources of inspiration for Jantus' art. Not only specific artists such as De Kooning or Jean Dubuffet, but the concept of Art Brut itself. The idea of marginal art, art produced by children or the mentally ill in a non completely academic environment was appealing to him. His art is expressive, raw and spontaneous. When he first encountered with Art Brut he recognized his art within its terms.
"I do not consider myself as a participant of the Art Brut movement, but instead as inspired by it, the same as I am inspired by Neo Expressionism or bad painting, but I am inspired in the concepts and not so much in the aesthetic of the movements."
Jantus' art career received an initial boost when he attended the workshop of Richard Sturgeon in Buenos Aires. Meeting Richard Sturgeon and studying in his workshop changed his whole vision about art and the way he related with his own artistic process. Sturgeon's teachings are mainly focused on color. "He made me understand the characteristics of color itself and the relationship in between each color inside the composition. He used to tell me artists need to generate surprise and in order for this to happen counterpoint is vital."
Sturgeon helped Jantus recognize contrasts and counterpoint and how to generate a balance in the whole image. "He always spoke about a conversation between the creator and the creation, how you put something inside the composition and the composition suggests what follows. I was used to making paintings with no clear intention and he made me figure out how to develop a whole unified body of work. At the same time, he insisted in making me conscious of the fact that I was building compositions that should be considered works of art and not just paintings."
"Richard Strugeon made me understand the characteristics of color itself and the relationship in between each color inside the composition"
Originally from Buenos Aires, Jantus is based in Barcelona. "I believe Buenos Aires has a very strong scene full of artists, and it lacks some more support in order to grow; the market is very small compared to the rest of the world. There is a circuit of art galleries but most of them do not risk with emerging artists. Young artists I met exhibit in alternative places, that makes the scene interesting because there is always an underground sensation in this kind of events. But there is not a stable structure that supports new talents and literally those who can, fly away. There is a huge potential that no one is taking care of, the image people have of artists is weird, people see you as bohemian or a lazy person, whereas in the rest of the world people recognize your practice as something valuable and see you as a passionate person."
"Barcelona, on the other hand, is a bit more active artistically. There are photographers, graffiti and street artists, musicians, DJs, everyone is producing art actively in Barcelona. The circuit of galleries is solid and there are the art events that occur constantly. Not only there is a lot of artists in the city, but also most of those artists help each other with collaborations and there are no huge stars in Barcelona, it is a horizontal city."
"After a few months of living in Barcelona I opened an art gallery in the Gothic quarter with two friends, that was a dream come true, I really love the gallery we had, it was fresh, contemporary. There I exhibited for the first time in a solo show, I was really excited! Moreover, today I am part of a techno label called Diffuse Reality and we organize an experimental art festival called Teorema. The festival grew so much that we traveled to Japan and South Korea to make some editions there. On the other hand, I live in a place with other artists, each one of us has a workshop and produces art there. Most of my friends are artists and as I said we all collaborate with each other. Almost all around the world it is difficult to succeed as an artist. At least Barcelona is so easy going that you find your place there quickly."
Last year Jantus was invited to exhibited in the Tokyo Art Fair in Japan. The experience of going to Japan was another boost to his practice. The art fair takes place in Roppongi Hills, a very trendy area of Tokyo. "During the fair I met tons of artists from around the world and was impressed with the quality of some of their artworks. The fact that it was my first experience in an art fair and that it was in Japan made everything appear to me as magic."
Jantus recently exhibited in Viridian Artitsts Gallery in Chelsea New York, as part of the “30 Under 30”, young and emerging artists. He also traveled to Río de Janeiro to exhibit in the Cidade das Artes museum in Barra de Tijuca, Centro Cultural Correios and Casa França-Brasil for BELA Biennial. Furthermore, he is now represented by Amuleto, an art gallery based in Barcelona. His next opening reception is the 25th of April in 21 Greenwich Village at one of Chashama spaces. The exhibition is called "L´enfant Brut" and consists of painting and videoart.