Cigars in Abstract

A former fighter paints his cigars with love.

by Tom Johansmeyer

Julio Aguilera has been bloodied in bare-knuckle bouts too many times to count. To be fair, the former World Martial Arts champion has also doled out his share of rib-cracking blows à la Bruce Lee, but for the Venezuelan native there's nothing that elicits more satisfaction (or inspiration) than a great cigar. With his King Fu days behind him, Aguilera now finds a release though abstract painting and sculpture, which he infuses with elements of cigar culture.

At times, however, the influence isn’t obvious. In “Still Life in Blue,” Aguilera leaves up to the observer to decide if the subject is holding a loaf of bread of a cigar, but the ambiguity is intentional. “I like to give a nod in one of my passions to another,” he says.

Other times, the cigar is apparent even if nothing else is. In “General con Pipa” and “Harlequin con Cigar,” the subjects are sliced apart in the artist's signature geometric style and reassembled with abstract symmetry. In the past two years, he has embarked on projects with Avo Uvezian, Zino Davidoff and the Fuente family. One of Aguilera’s most prized pieces of Uvezian, which was signed by both artist and subject, and auctioned off the cigar legend's 81st birthday with the proceeds going to charity.

Given Aguilera's love of sticks, it’s no surprise that the close-knit cigar community has hailed him as its representative artist. Pieces from his sculpture series, “New York Bull,” have appeared in the windows of Davidoff on Madison Avenue (where he has held a number of shows), and he regularly meets with collectors at New York tobacconist De La Concha. “I enjoy this world,” the artist says as he puffs of a Davidoff Millennium. "We all have a reason to come together.” And part of Aguilera’s raison d’etre is to be a prolific painter.

"I've done 5,000 pieces.” he says. “Picasso did 80,000.” But Aguilera contends there’s a logical explanation. "Picasso only did three things: he painted, he sculpted, he fucked.” The comparison to the King of Cubism is no coincidence as Picasso’s influence on Aguilera’s work is clear, but the artist takes it a step further by using geometric techniques to suspend the foreground in three dimensions. His subjects not only pop from the canvas, they appear to be anchored in mid-air.

According to avid Aguilera collectors, the artist shouldn’t sweat being sized up to Picasso. A loyal following holds his work in high esteem, and his audience is growing. Ron Melendi, General Manager of De La Concha, had little interest in art before he met Aguilera in person. Now Melendi is an avid collector. "It's a lot easier when you know the artist," Melendi says, “especially when he's one of us.”