Congratulations to Fraelo Lantigua for earning his place a Winner in the Boynes Monthly Art Award [April Edition]!

Who are you?

I am Fraelo Lantigua. I was born in the Dominican Republic on the coasts of Maria Trinidad Sanches in a small town called Rio San Juan. I grew up in a place called ''La Caribe'' and from a very young age I was attracted to art and spent most of the day doing drawings until I grew up and decided to be a professional artist and pursue my dream.

What inspired you to utilize drawing as a medium?

My inspiration in using drawing as the medium for my artwork is because I love the effect and realism I can achieve, as well as the feeling of strength and calm that transmits to me the shades of gray and black

How would you describe your work?

I describe my artworks as a part of how I see the world, of my way of thinking and each of my works is a small part of my being. 

Can you discuss the inspiration and thought process behind your winning work?

In the Dominican Republic baseball has been part of our lives since our birth, and one of our best players of all time is Pedro Martines who inspired me with his dedication and hard work to be one of the best pitchers in the major leagues at his time. That's the reason why I decided to draw a picture of a hand holding a baseball and title it unpredictable since that's how many of his pitches were "unpredictable."

What do you hope to communicate to an audience with your work?

What I seek to communicate to the audience with my drawing is the strength and skill with which he performed on the field of play and the impact he has caused beyond baseball.

Can you talk about your biggest learning experience during the process of creating your work?

My greatest lesson of this artwork is that anything positive that one does can be of help, motivation and inspiration to anyone to move forward and achieve incredible things.

Can you discuss your biggest success since starting your artistic journey?

For me one of the greatest successes of my career has been to become an art instructor at Ani Art Academies Dominicana where I have learned many important things and thanks to my artistic career I have been able to help my parents in everything they need since they gave everything they could to help me to be who I am today.

What projects are you working on currently?

I am currently working on a painting inspired by another of our excellent baseball players who along with Pedro Martines is also part of the Cooperstown Hall of Fame.

As a winner, do you have any advice for artists who want to submit to awards, competitions, residencies, etc.?

I think the best advice I can give to other artists is to prepare as best as possible, acquire all the artistic knowledge that is within your reach and give your best in every stroke you make.

Lastly, I like to ask everyone what advice they would give to their fellow artists, what is your advice?

I think the advice I would give them would be not to give up, maybe it sounds like something very common but in the end life is about not giving up and art is not an exception. There will be difficult moments. Moments in which you will want to abandon everything but you must persist and hold on to your beliefs and what you want to achieve

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