First thing I noticed when I got into Jose Tonito's studio is a slight smell of chemicals and Q-Tips everywhere. The floor looked like a trash can in a hospital. Wires, pieces of wood, rags and shaving razors are the brushes of this innovative artist that uses empty ink cartridges as the source of paint and chooses photographic ink jet papers for canvas.

IC: We know your photographic background. When did you start painting?
JT: I did both at the same time for a few years at artistic level. I still take pictures for
commercial purposes. The artistic transition came only 2 years ago. I paint since 1995 and I painted on canvas until 2000 that I switched to wood. During this period I would use a 48x48 inches sheet of plywood or pressed wood. I made distorted faces and body parts that I printed from my computer. Then I would take that image and make Xerox copies in different sizes. I put a coat of acrylic yesso over the wood. Right after that, and while the white yesso is still wet, I place the Xerox images, ink facing the medium. When the yesso dries it absorbs the black ink from the paper and the image in now incorporated to the wood. I used to paper sand the images until I achieved a desired transparent effect. Some paintings would take a month to finish. The process was slow and patience does not run in my family.

IC: Are you still working with wood?
JT: No. Besides the fact that it became a tedious process, moving the paintings to exhibitions was expensive because they are very heavy. What any other artist with canvas could take in their car's trunk I would have to rent a truck to move it. I know this sound a bit inartistic, but I don't like to create - in an environment where I don't feel comfortable.

IC: Tell me about the transition.
JT: A couple of years ago, while developing some black and white film in my lab, a few drops of photo developer stained a picture I had printed in my ink jet computer printer. The chemical made a strange reaction with the ink and paper and I began to experiment with fixers, bleaches, toners, etc. I worked with many other photographs and began to manipulate the image using the different properties of the chemicals. Some of them change the hues of colors while other will light or darken certain parts of the image. The combinations of these techniques also contributed to very interesting results in textures.

IC: Do you always use manipulated photographs?
JT: Not anymore. Now I start with a blank sheet of ink jet photographic paper. I get my ink from empty printer cartridges that I extract using a medical seringe. Its amazing the amount of ink that remains inside the cartridge after the computer tells you its empty. I apply the inks mostly with common Q-Tips but I also use different brushes, wires, wood sticks, etc. Once the ink is applied I can use different chemicals to add or subtract colors and create shapes. The process is quite fascinating because many forms are created by chemical reactions and the results are often unpredictable. Once I get inspired by any of the forms, an idea start developing and the creative process takes its course.

IC: In a recent exhibition, a collector pointed out that the medium is subject to fading and will deteriorate after 50 years. I understand you offered a solid argument and I will like the readers of IC to know about it.
JT: I will have to argue about this forever and I won't live 50 years more to prove I was right. Ink jet technology has less than 10 years and I understand that I am creating with a brand new medium not intended for art but I use only the best archival inks and papers that the market has to offer. I use Epson paper and inks with a print permanence rating of 166 years when displayed under glass and 200+ years displayed under a UV glass. By any museum standard that is a very long time and I am sure in the future they will develop new ways of stabilizing any fading of the artwork.

IC: Your last exhibition was titled "Orishas" and I saw some afro-Cuban motif in your current exhibit as well. Any relation between "Orishas" and "Azucar"?
JT: The Orishas series is one of my favorites. I read many books about afro-Cuban religion better known as Santeria and found out that is as rich and interesting as the Greek mythology I studied when I was a kid. They had both powerful gods that manipulate humans like puppets and the world is the great scenario. They are cruel and often commit crimes and have the same habits and defects as their inferior humans. This human-like behavior demystify their great god status and I take the opportunity of bring them closer to our own level. In the "Azucar" series which is more personal, I use the same formula to deconstruct friends and subjects that surround my wife and I when we go out on weekends. Artistically my paintings offer a surrealistic world that because of its ambiguities and layering reassembles very much the recent times were tons of visual information and dynamics are perfectly suitable to the new generation.

IC: As what medium would you categorize your work? Oleo, acrylic, mixed media...?
JT: I don't like to categorize my work for me is just painting. I use ink and paper as a medium sometimes to put it in some kind of classification but sadly it does not explain my process until I don't explain further.

IC: Last question. Lets say I buy one of your small paintings. I scan the image and print it in the same ink jet paper using the same inks. How would you know the difference?
JT: The process leaves a texture on the surface of the paper that cannot be duplicated by any digital technology. I signed my work in the front and I write the title and date plus another signature in the back.