Hugo Toro: French-Mexican artist and interior designer

1. Tell us about your very first memory related to art.

Hugo Toro: I wouldn't say my first memory is directly related to art. It's actually connected to water. As a child, I spent countless hours swimming, especially underwater. I remember the unique sensation of looking at the world from beneath the surface. Shapes became blurred, light fractured, and sound disappeared. There was a kind of abstraction that transported me somewhere else.

I think that's where my way of seeing the world began. Later, I tried to recapture that feeling through drawing and painting. As a child, I used to say that I wanted to "paint nothing." I didn't yet have the words to describe it, but I was already trying to express something intangible: an emotion, a vibration, that delicate boundary between what we see and what we feel. In many ways, that's still what I'm searching for in my work today.

©Charlotte Abbeys_More

©Charlotte Abbeys_More

2. What is your relationship with art today? Why is art important in your life and in your work as a designer?

Hugo Toro: I don't really separate my work as an artist, a designer, or an architect. They are simply different forms of expression. Painting is probably the most intimate and personal because it isn't shaped by any constraints. But fundamentally, my creative process remains the same.

I work very instinctively. Whether I'm painting a canvas, designing a piece of furniture, or imagining a hotel, everything begins with an intuition, an almost abstract feeling. I never start with a specific form. Instead, I begin with an emotion, a quality of light, a memory, or a material. Only then does the project gradually take shape and become something tangible.

Art is ultimately the starting point of everything I create. It's where ideas are born before finding their own language, whether that becomes a painting, an object, or a building.

©Donaji Eynius-Gonzalez

3. How would you describe your work? What makes your universe instantly recognizable?



Hugo Toro: I create works that I can't always explain. What I'm really trying to do is bring something deeply instinctive, almost primal, to the surface. My work is rooted more in introspection than in representation.

My paintings emerge gradually. They begin in a blur before moving toward a form of abstraction where figuration constantly appears and disappears. I'm always searching for that balance between what we recognize and what we feel.

At its core, I believe my work is a search for narrative. It's a way of reconnecting with memories, emotions, and sensations through forms and visual languages that lie deep within us. My role is simply to give them a presence on the canvas.

4. If you had to introduce your work to someone who had never encountered it before through a single piece, which one would you choose?

Hugo Toro: I would probably choose the Ojo de Agua series, which was recently presented at Perrotin in New York.

It captures my approach quite well because it brings together all the streams that flow through my work into a single river. Water is a defining element of my imagination. It has been there since my earliest memories, shaping the way I look at the world and the way I approach painting as a living material, a form of memory, and a surface that transforms our perception.

Ojo de Agua is probably the best introduction to my universe because, in many ways, it represents its origin

©Donaji Eynius-Gonzalez

5. What inspires you? Where do your ideas come from?



Hugo Toro: I don't believe ideas appear out of nowhere. I think they are constantly taking shape beneath the surface, almost subliminally, before one day erupting like geysers.

I'm always observing, often without even realizing it. Light falling on a facade, a weathered stone, a tree, a photograph, a piece of music, a conversation. Everything feeds my work.

I'm also fascinated by accidents. Imperfections, the marks left by time, the traces carried by an object or a place often reveal far more than perfection ever could. Those details create depth, leaving behind subtle layers of memory that eventually find their way into my work.

6. Which artists do you admire? Whose work moves you, and why?

Hugo Toro: I admire artists who are very different from one another because I'm not looking for a particular aesthetic. I'm drawn to a way of thinking.

I'm deeply moved by the freedom of Cy Twombly, the emotional power of Mark Rothko, the quiet poetry of Giorgio Morandi, and the profoundly introspective world of Louise Bourgeois.

I'm also greatly influenced by Mexican artists such as Gabriel Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Their relationship with material, storytelling, and space goes far beyond the limits of a single medium. They think across disciplines, creating a dialogue between art, architecture, landscape, and society.

That's probably what resonates with me most: artists who refuse to be confined to one discipline and instead develop a language that can take many different forms.

©Perrotin

7. Finally, what are you currently working on? What projects are coming next?

Hugo Toro: I recently presented Ojo de Agua, my solo exhibition at Perrotin in New York, which marks an important milestone in my artistic journey.

At the same time, I'm continuing to develop a wide range of architecture and design projects around the world, spanning hotels, restaurants, hospitality spaces, as well as private residences and villas.

I'm also working on several new artistic projects. My ambition is to continue creating a dialogue between painting, furniture, design, and architecture without ever treating them as separate disciplines.

To me, they all belong to the same language and enrich one another. Ultimately, each project is simply a different way of telling a story.

©Perrotin

©Perrotin

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