Filed under: ART, DESIGN, INTERVIEWS, WHERE (we) LIVE, WOOD | Tags: 19th, 20th, 21ST, 22, 22nd, BAM, brooklyn, december, funiture, interview, live, magazine, new, prview, the, valencia, victoria, we, where, with, woodworking, york
On Dec 19-22nd So Percussion will combine the wonderfully unique voices of Ain Gordon, Greg Mcmurray, Martin Schmidt, and Emily Johnson with an alternating artistic “performer” each night to creatively explore the idea of a home onstage in Where (we) Live at Brooklyn Academy of Music. Artists will include, Paula Greif (ceramics), Marsha Trattner (blacksmith), Ricardo Vecchio (painter), Victoria Valencia (woodworker.) These performances are part of BAM’s 30th Next Wave Festival.
PREVIEW INTERVIEW WITH VICTORIA VALENCIA
By Nell Whittaker
THE 22: I wondered if you could expand a little on how you treat disused spaces and how you approach the challenge of trying to fill them with something suitable.
VICTORIA VALENCIA: A disused space to me; a space you want more from. Sometimes you want a space to hold a feeling, a purpose. Sometimes that purpose is function. Function of a piece can come in many forms. To be pleasing to the eye, hold a feeling or memory, to sit on, rest and think, have a meal, a drink, or get to work. I make things that fill those spaces. My work holds stories, those of its life before this form, marks from who used them before. The stories of why these trees have fallen.
22: Your designs are like a meeting between the natural and the man-made. If the raw materials you use dictate the shape of your final product (‘ the imperfect intentions of [the] varied sourced material’), what purpose does the man-made serve?
VV: I respect its original form, not trying to make it too different. The raw materials are beautiful in themselves. A slab of tree can tell you why it fell or how fast it grew, marks of age. The raw material is nature’s art. The me-made is my art. Its my compliment to the nature.
22: What affect does Brooklyn have on what you create?
VV: I love this place. I use the wood from old watertowers. I use trees that grew in Brooklyn and fell in Brooklyn. I ride my bike through its streets and find inspiration.My friends and fellow artist in Brooklyn inspire me.
22: What is unique about your creative process – what do you think will make it interesting to an audience who has no familiarity already with your work?
VV: I work backwards sometimes…sometimes, I have the material before the design. I have a stack of wood that I’ve collected and been given. I get inspired and it moves forward. If I design (think too much) nothing happens.
22: On the other hand, do you think the audience or the atmosphere will affect what you are creating on the night itself?
VV: Yes. I have ideas of what I can do on that Saturday night, but no plan. I may just be handplaning the whole time. Working a rough piece towards a finished state.
22: Do you have a clear idea of what it is you will make at the show?
VV: Something with wood since it would be a bit complicated to weld on stage. My clear idea is I want to be comfortable, I want to have fun, I want to play.
22: Do you think that being self-taught has enabled you to work without restrictions?
VV: Its enabled me to be in my process. I learn something and I work at it until I feel I’ve improved. Then I move on to the next skill. I’m learning slow but well. I learn what intrigues me, while bypassing the “shoulds.” I learn from the materials, my peers and my experience.
22: What impact do you think a conventional education in furniture making would have had on your work?
VV: I wouldn’t have had the experiences I’ve had. I wouldn’t have lived in many places and found my passion through my love for challenges. I would have judged myself because I am not a traditional classroom student. I probably would know more design history. I would be been more in debt and felt like I need to make my work rather than want to.
Filed under: ART, INTERVIEWS, PREVIEWS, WHERE (we) LIVE | Tags: 19th, 20th, 21ST, 22, 22nd, BAM, brooklyn, Dec, interview, live, magazine, new, preview, riccardo, the, vecchio, we, where, with, york
On Dec 19-22nd So Percussion will combine the wonderfully unique voices of Ain Gordon, Greg Mcmurray, Martin Schmidt, and Emily Johnson with an alternating artistic “performer” each night to creatively explore the idea of a home onstage in Where (we) Live at Brooklyn Academy of Music. Artists will include, Paula Greif (ceramics), Marsha Trattner (blacksmith), Ricardo Vecchio (painter), Victoria Valencia (woodworker.) These performances are part of BAM’s 30th Next Wave Festival.
PREVIEW INTERVIEW WITH RICCARDO VECCHIO
By Nell Whittaker
The 22: Portrait painting is often thought of as a sort of intimacy between the artist and his subject. How did you initially respond to the idea of opening that up to an audience?
RV: I was terrified. At the same time, because it will be a new experience for me, I am curious to see how it will influence my process. I am sure the company of the musicians will make me feel at ease.
22: What similarities would you draw between your creative process and music? What do you think links visual artwork (in particular, your artwork) to music?
RV: Perhaps because I am also a drummer, and because I frequently paint while listening to music, I find the process very similar. Especially with percussion instruments, I find the ebb and flow of the rhythm analogous to the way I paint. The accumulation of details and contrasting empty spaces in painted surface mimic the acceleration and deceleration of a beat.
22: Do you think the audience or the atmosphere will affect what you are creating on the night itself? Or do you have a clear idea of what it is you will make?
RV: While a part of the painting will be planned out ahead of time, some parts will be blank and left to be finished during the performance. The final result will certainly be affected by the evening’s performance. It will be interesting to deal with the unpredictability of a fairly short performance. It will be crucial to quickly recognize and save “happy painting accidents,” and quickly paint over a mistake which could potentially lessen the final effect.
22: What is it that you think makes your artwork work alongside music?
RV: I think all artwork can work alongside music. If we are talking about my work in particular, I feel there is almost a structural similarity to my paintings and to the way music looks in written form. The disassembled architectural structures I often use in my work remind me of the dance of notes, keys, time signatures, ornaments and clefs on the staff lines.
22: Do you listen to music as you paint? If so, what music helps to put you in the “right” frame of mind for painting?
RV: I frequently listen to music while I work. But depending on the stage of completion of the piece I might vary the music. For example, in the beginning of a piece I might listen to more orchestral music, while at the end stages I’m more likely to gravitate to music with single instruments and no vocals at all. Almost an anachronistic dynamic. The emptier the canvas the louder and richer the music, the richer fuller the canvas the quieter and minimal the music.
Filed under: ART, EVENTS, The 22, VOLUME TWO | Tags: 21ST, 22, candy, Fest, july, magazine, Mini, PETE'S, print, Store, the, version, Zine
SEE INTERIOR SHOTS OF MAGAZINE.
FACEBOOK INVITE.
WATCH THE PREVIEW VIDEO.
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WHERE IS THIS SHINDIG HAPPENING?
Pete’s Candy Store
July 21st, 2pm-7pm
709 Lorimer St
Brooklyn, NY
L Train to Bedford or Lorimer
MAP
Filed under: THE WEEK/THE WEEKEND | Tags: (Jerome, 11, 17, 2011, 21ST, @CATM MAX, a, alternative, and, animal, annual, artist, arts, as, at, atlantic, austin, AVANTGARDE ALEKSANDAR, awful, —, BAADSVIK ESOPUS, Baldwin, ball, benjamin, blood, Brokaw, brooklyn, BUTTERFLY Mur, by, cathartic, century, Chetwynd The, choir, Cinema A, Ciurej, clay, Club Video@Hubertus, Commission), Conception, congregation, conversation, cultural, culture, day, de, Debt, DESIGN, development, Discussion, dont, Drawings panel, ECO, EDEN PHILLIP, Ellen, ENDS, ESOPUS Holdengraber Migratory, estate, ESTEBAN, evening, Event Counterfactual, fashion, Festival CHAMBER, film, films, Finer Im, for, Ford, Form CAPICP, foundation, Freedom, Friends Matthew, gary, GATES, gerstein, HACKING ROXANE, him, Holdengräber BROOKLYN, House, i, IdolsTHE, improvisational, in, INCUBATOR, INDIANA Playing, island ARCADIA Cybernetic, issues, it, jack, jan, Johnson Influential, Joni, Kimberly, KLINGBIEL THE, Komunyakaa, LaGrone, LandCollaspe Barbara, Lang, LARRAIN, Lassnig AN, Launch GILLES, lecture, LEIGHTON, LierStein, like, Lindsay, LION, Lippy, Lochman UMBERTO, look, LOUDA CARVING, MA, Machines Spirit, Madness!, makes, maria, McClure Sarah, McDermott, me, media, Murs Murakami, Museum, music, Muybridges, NEOAVANTGARDE WHERE, new, next, night, nordeen, Now! BRADFORD, occupy, of, on, One THE, ONGOING Ben, OYSTEIN, PAPERBACKS Ben, part, Paul, Paul Tod, PEÑAS Enid, PERFORMA, Pianos Tomorrow, PIERCE UNFOLD, please, portrait, processes, PROJECT PHARMA Spartacus, Proposition, PURGATORY, real, Rebellion ARAB, recent, refuge GLOBAL, residency, Reynaert Doug, rise Yusef, ROMANCE Spartacus, Ron, ROOM Serenity, ROUNDTABLE OSCAR, S, saint, Sasada, Scholars Katie, Screening, selected, service 69, Shorts ED, Siegel ArboretumPrivacy, Silliman A, SLEAZE, sound, sounds, SPRINGS, SRNEC, STEARNS Subliminal, Sternbach, Stone Optimism, Street Yasuto, Surfland 365, Swallow Walton, talk, Tamer 7th, Tamer Feist Artist, that, the, think, to, TRADING, van, VENICE, videos, virtual, VISUALITY, VITUS KARL, Vizsolyi, wall, WATERLINES Signs, Watkins Tom, wave, WEALTH, white, Winners Barbara, with, woods, york
TUESDAY:
Ben Gerstein (Jerome Foundation Commission) – FREEDOM CHOIR! A congregation for cathartic improvisational service
PHARMA Spartacus Chetwynd: The Lion Tamer |
