Interview to Antonio Jesús Yuste Navarro

- How do you remember those first days of confinement, which surprised us in the middle of Lent?

At first I thought that it would be something temporary, and that, in fifteen days, at the most, everything would be solved. But soon, seeing the seriousness of the matter, I assumed that this pandemic was going to do us a lot of damage and that, of course, we would have to wait another Holy Week to see a procession in the street. A year later, we have to continue waiting, although I trust that it will be for the last time...

- It is to be imagined that the circumstance of having the workshop attached to your own home made it easier for you to continue working, even in these difficult circumstances...

Indeed, for me it is a luxury to work at home because combining family life with professional life is often difficult, especially in this profession of image maker that requires using every last bit of time that arises. In this sense, and beyond the tragedy that was taking place outside, the first days of the confinement were not very different from other years, also during Lent, when work piles up: barely going anywhere, always from home to workshop and from the workshop to home. Of course, without the pressure to deliver any work, and with concern for everything that was happening.

- How does an image maker, that is, someone who in some way has his professional life linked to Holy Week, live these uncertain times in which we do not know when the processions will return to the streets?

Living with hope. Surely the year 2022 will be the beginning of a new normality that will bring us the Easter that we have always known, and for this we have to be prepared. Even if we have to make some change or other, I am sure that next year we will enjoy, as enthusiasts that we are, our parades. As an image artist, at the moment, I continue working on the projects that I have and that are emerging, and I am not so much concerned with the future as with the present. I continue to work with enthusiasm, putting all my love and commitment into the work I am doing, thinking that I will see her parading through the streets or leaving the Church, I have no doubt.

- Right now you are working on a project of great importance, the sculptural group of the Holy Burial for the Brotherhood of the Samaritan woman in Cieza. How is your job going?

It's going very well, my expectations are being met. You have to think that it is my first life-size sculptural group that will see the light in a processional parade, and for Holy Week in my town. Although I learned the trade in the workshop of Pepe Hernández Navarro, an exceptional person and artist who was so generous with me, Cieza has given me a lot, not only, obviously, for being my town, but also as an image maker. Many ciezan brotherhoods, starting with the Brotherhood of Souls, trusted my work when I was taking my first steps, especially with the images for children's processions. But then my first crucified was also for a ciezan brotherhood, the Christ of the Expiration of the Brotherhood of San Pedro, and that work marked a lot in my professional career. A work that I have the pleasure of seeing a few meters from my house, taking a simple walk until I reach Santa Clara. This is how I think it will happen with this passage of the Holy Burial. I am giving the best that I have without skimping on anything, neither in time, nor in effort, nor in illusion. It is true that the work could go faster, however, I am reassured by the achievements that I am reaching with each of the pieces that make up this sculptural group. Working for Cieza supposes a great responsibility, and that is why I demand more of myself and try to give the best I have so that with this work we can make our Holy Week even bigger, even if possible.

- What have been, so far, the main difficulties you have encountered? It is a complex group, with five carving images…

It is quite a challenge, of course. It is because of the importance of what is represented, the Burial of Christ, also because of the artistic scope that it implies... and to all this we must add that I will see it every year, on Good Friday, pass in front of me. All this makes me want to look for the best from the first moment. I sincerely believe that I have been ambitious proposing something very complicated technically. The difficulty lies in three main images, fused together, and at the same time, with the two bases of the new throne that Javier Bernal is making, at different heights. Everything has to fit to the millimeter, and, at the same time, the composition of movements and attitudes has to be completely natural. To this day, I am very satisfied and excited because I sincerely believe that I have achieved it.

- What did it mean for you that the brotherhood put in your hands such a crucial step in the procession of the Holy Burial, perhaps the most important of Holy Week in Cieza?

For me it is a pleasure to work for Holy Week in which I have grown as a believer and as a sculptor. The Brotherhood of the Samarita is now the one that has made another of my dreams come true. I am convinced that it will again be a work of inflection in my career as an image maker, and that is how I transferred it to its board of directors, from the first moment, it should be a work of great category. That trust that the Samaritans placed in me had to be rewarded with an exceptional group, which would give them pride and the illusion of meeting every Good Friday around a passage that inspired their devotion, and which would leave a mark on the spectators of the procession. . I do not want to forget that the brotherhood could have sought the prestige and experience of a consecrated image maker, and instead they have entrusted the work, indeed crucial for the most solemn procession of Cieza, to an image maker and brother of Ciezano. The list of this procession is impressive, including artists like González Moreno, Capuz, Planes, Benedito, Álvarez Duarte, Romero Zafra, Bernal, Carrillo... It is an enormous privilege to find a place among them, as I told you before, it is a dream that is coming true.

- While you work in the group, do you already anticipate that moment when you are blessed, presented in public, the first time you go out on the street...?

The finished work and parading through the streets always comes to mind. I think about the presentation of the work, about the reaction of the people... but above all about the places where I would like to see it parade. One of them is the exit from the Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption; It's funny, I've even thought about the place where I would situate myself in the Plaza Mayor, under the tower, to see the walk out in profile. You will think that it is a somewhat strange image, and that is how I have been visualizing it for some time now, without finding any explanation. Another place where I would like to be that night would be in the narrow Calle Larga. Due to its size, the passage will fill the entire street, and then many memories would come to mind as a child, seeing the thrones pass in front of the house surrounded by my grandparents, who would surely be proud of his grandson. I have no doubt that they will be leaning out all night, until the procession is collected, on the balcony of heaven.

- Undoubtedly, the passage of the Holy Burial will mark an important point in your career, but, to get here, what do you think have been the works that have had the greatest impact, the ones that have brought the most interest in your work to your workshop?

Although I have tried to commit myself to the maximum in all of them, it is clear that there are three that had a very special impact. One of them is the Cristo de la Expiración, to which I referred before, and which, without expecting it, was the first national prize for imagery in 2013. For an image maker, the representation of a crucified person is a decisive opportunity to demonstrate their worth, and I think I took advantage of that opportunity that the brothers of San Pedro gave me. The truth is that I remember with great joy that year 2013, when he paraded for the first time. Many of the orders after that year were forged thanks to the acceptance that this crucified man had in the brotherly world. Another relevant work is Our Lady Empress of China, the representation of the Virgin with such oriental features, which was a new launch of my work among art connoisseurs, and of course the Christ of the Redemption, a work of stature complete, with its point of iconographic originality, for the Archconfraternity of the Blood of Murcia, which I have always admired for its exceptional heritage of images, and which gave me the opportunity to develop a work that has been decisive in my career, and which was also fruit of the enormous effort to live up to the trust they showed me.

- What other projects do you already have arranged, and what others have you always had the illusion of doing?

I can talk about three projects: a Saint John for the Brotherhood of the Risen Jesus in Mula, a Saint Joseph for the Cuenca Seminary and an Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem for Bullas. I always look forward to that moment of starting something new. I don't usually think much about the work that I would like to do, although I have to confess that I feel like, at this moment, making a Virgin, after so much time among Santos Varones... I need to rediscover myself with the tender and maternal scene of Mary, and If Divine Providence wants, I will soon have the opportunity, although for now, I cannot give more details.