Artistic Journeys and Stone Sculpture

Why do we embark on artistic journeys? What is it about art that entice us to it?

Is it the muse as they have been calling it through centuries and is that muse inside us or something else that inspire us?

In progress

Creating art is like giving birth to the ideas on our minds, it is also being connected to the medium ( the stone), be part of it and the process. It is an amazing experience in which I get to connect with nature and the universe through the stone.

When I pick a stone I touch it and feel its texture, look at it and all its angles wetting it to admire its color. I hit it with the hammer to listen to its voice and how it speaks to me.

Then, when I take it home I put her on my sculpting table and I move around it, absorbing it, connecting with it. This process can be fast or slow depending on many factors. Sometimes I see on the stone what I want to carve from it, other times it takes longer to see, to feel….Part of my inspiration cames from the stone itself and most comes from inside me.

The stone gives me” vibrations” when I touch it creating a connection with me and that awakens my desire to work on it. If the stone inspires me it produces a trance like state on me and I feel the need to chisel away and discover that inside the rock that is speaking to me.

Work Area

I believe in the need for a connection within the medium and the artist, without it the creation can be beautiful, flawless, but it lacks soul. Art can be many things and for me it must be soulful, inspiring. The art that makes people stop and look, want to touch, imagine what the artist had in mind….

What Makes Good Photography and is it the same for other kinds of Art ? Is Less Always More?

When I look at a photograph I look for a message; do they need and must have a message? Does art need to convey a message to the viewer and is that part of the art experience?

On a photograph we have a subject and the context of what we display, represent and compose in the photograph. The subject and the context make the photograph relevant, interesting, but can the subject or the context clutter the photograph? A photo is created by subtracting from the shot what is irrelevant and not necessary to what we want to express. Is it the same for other forms of art, lets say painting , sculpture? Is less always more?

Untitled- Work by Bill Thomas- BT-Thirdiimage

So what makes a photograph a piece of Art?

What do we do when we look for the first time to a photograph? We look for familiarity, if there is something familiar to us, then we look for emotion, how we feel about it, do we like it or not, does it attracts us or do we just want to move on to the next?

We first look at the photograph in a general context and then we start looking at the details, the colors, the different hues that attract our eye and also our mind. Depending on what colors we favor we will be attracted in different ways to a photograph. Then we look at the light and how it hits and the shadows it creates. A play of light and shadow that as photographers we can manipulate to draw the eyes of the viewer to those places we want to emphasize. It is at this point the two dimensional photograph becomes three dimensional by the shifting of light and the shadows making the details richer and with more texture. The same works for painting, even though in painting many times we add more elements, more color and details instead of subtracting and making it simple. How about sculpture? Again, it depends on what we want it to be.

I personally love landscape and nature photography, but my love is people photography; when photographing people the photograph becomes human and it evokes the emotion of the subject.

Good photography also has balance and it is clean of excessive clutter. If it is in color they must be bold, solid, clean, bright without excessive patterns and also harmonic compositions with few colors or just one simple color to create a soft, relaxing image.

Then we have depth and that is why we add either a strong background or we soften it into a blur to let the subject shine by itself. But, what if we chose to make the picture flat? with no depth? The same applies for a painting and how about sculpture, does it have depth, can it be flat with no depth?

Now, get closer, closer, closer, most of the best shots are close and many are parts of the total , a different experience by itself; by getting closer we get more texture,details and things appear to be different than what they are, many become abstracts and capture a different identity than the original subject. I am a fool for close ups and body parts.

How about the use of light? It has to be” interesting” and by that I mean dramatic. Long shadows do it for me any time and side and back lighting gives always good results. Early morning, late afternoon, but what about night shots with full moon, no flash of course. And how about hyperfocal to have a very close foreground and a very deep background? How doe we take advantage of light in art, photography, painting and also sculpture?  In sculpture we basically do it by carving, the texture we create, the shapes and if needed a good lighting element; the lay of light and shadow is so much more interesting in photography.

A good, very good photograph takes time, one has to think, look, connect and assimilate the subject and its context, working the subject in a ritual dance, letting the subject relax and feel comfortable, forgetting the lens is ogling it. Just like any other piece of art, one has to get comfortable with the material one uses, with the tools and with the idea of what it will become. It is all about passion, about a flirtatious dance with the material to understand it, see it as it is, assimilate it and transform it.

Origins- Italian Translucent White Alabaster

Is Art Self Expression? Creativity Madness or Controlled Choices?

mystic-flower

So many theories and concepts about art. For some art is that of a beautiful subject with a beautiful, perfect execution. They give more importance to the skill of the artist than to the creativity.

For others art must be creative, even if that means not ” elegant”, ” improper, ” too daring.

Isn’t art just the expression of the artist’s mind, soul, dreams and desires put together with the skill of the artist’s hands, eyes and talent?

Art is beautiful as it is the self expression of the artist no matter what the subject. We see artistic expression in photography of war, in other things that are not beautiful, but the fact that we express it is beautiful. To be able to communicate to others by our art and self expression, without fear of rejection and criticism, that is Art.

Recession and Art- Selling Art

It is difficult to sell art and more during a recession. The first thing is to get the art out there, to the public. It is also important not to get scared and lower the prices because lowering the prices only devalues the art.

I was having a conversation with another artist, a photographer, Bill Thomas -BT- and we were talking about the value of free things. Seems most people consider free things of less value and appreciate things more when they have to pay more.  It happens for example when we give one of our works of art to friends or family members and yes, they like it but they don’t consider it as valuable as if they had to pay for it. We can see this with brand names; we pay more for basically the same thing but we are paying for the name and we value it more, take care of it more and most of us are proud of our acquisition because we paid a lot for it.

The same with our art, if we value it others will too and now more than ever we must stand up for our work and its value.

Nothing that is worthy is free or easy…except nature, goodness and love….things like that….

2005nov opening exhibition "unfolding the mind"at azucart gallery in coral gables florida on november 4th where he shared the space with his sculptor daughter dulce maria rico

Beauty in Art – is Art to be beautiful and is beauty more artistc than ugliness?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? Then why does society favors the so called standards of beauty in all fields, even in the field of art?

I too find beautiful things desirable and I also see beauty in things others may not.

Escape Within-Soapstone

I have had conversations with another artist, a great photographer, Bill Thomas -BT- and he tells me he finds contrast interestingly beautiful. Things that seem odd, things that seem to not belong or that are truly extremes on size, color, appearance, disparities. I realized talking to him that I too love extremes and things that are different, things and subjects others may not like, desire or even pay attention to.

Since I can remember I have been attracted, called by things that are misshapen, old, broken, used and abused. I appreciate a flower at the top of its beauty, soft, vibrant with the most amazing aroma, the most beautiful colors and I can also appreciate a flower dying, when the smells change, the textures and colors and when it starts to become something else. The same for a person, lets say a beautiful young woman at her peek, with soft supple skin, unblemished by time. I appreciate that young woman, see her beauty, her soft flowing forms that invite the eye and the hands. Still, when I see a scar with its different textures and shapes or wrinkled skin with those deep crevices shadowing and telling I see beauty because for me beauty is textures, shapes, light and shadow, tastes and smells……as the smell of the stones I handle, the taste of the dust I make when I sculpt, the different textures and all the points of light and shadow while I sculpt.

I feel the need, the desire to sculpt old skin, old women’s parts, skin over fatty tissue bulging with the softness it has. I have the desire to capture tired, watery old eyes full of wisdom and history, full of hope and love. I wish to capture the beauty of those society dismiss as ugly because in their so called ugliness beauty lives and I want to capture it for eternity.

Dulce

Women as Artists and Subjects of Art

Essence of Woman

Since the beginning of time women have created art and most of the time have not been recognized. Most of the time women’s art work were credited to their teachers and or family male members. Women had to sign their work as anonymous many other times because it wasn’t acceptable to create art as a woman and also was considered that women couldn’t create art as well as men.

During the Renaissance there were many women artists but their work was considered of less value as their male counterparts. In the 18th century women started to be a little more accepted do to the emphasis in beauty and women taking advantage of their beauty and their female beautiful subjects to have their work better accepted. In the 19th century more women became accepted artists if their work was about home and society subjects. Later in the century with the Impressionism movement women finally were able to create from their imagination and were not as restricted.

In the 20th century is when women stepped out and demanded their rights to be considered equal and it is then when women’s art flourished and became relevant. It was the time of the two World Wars when men went to fight and women had to take over and empower themselves. After the Second World War when the men came back women were pushed back again and it was during the 70’s when women decided enough was enough and women supported each other and started groups and organitations to bring women’s art to the visible world of art, to make it present, valuable and as creative, as impressive as relevant as men’s art.

Finally we women were not only subject of art but also creators and conduit of our own destiny.

Bodyscapes – Sensual Spaces, Goddess

Sensual Space - Italian White Alabaster. The boulder becomes sensual organic curves.

Sensual Space - Italian White Alabaster. The boulder becomes sensualorganic curves

Drawing for Sensual Space

Boulder for Sensual Space- Italian White Alabaster

Fragmented Women of Stone – Work in Progress

I build a fragmented woman of stone

And of my fragmented dreams

Of shadows and light

Deepen openings among sensual swells

And with my chisel

I build this fragmented woman of my dreams

Intimacy- Italian White Translucent Alabaster- Work in process

Intimacy

Intimacy

Folds- Italian Translucent White Alabaster- In Progress

Folds

Passion of Woman

Soft tender touch
desire, passion
sweet surrender
fire flame

breath of  life

I named it Flame for now...as always it is about the female passion. Gold Alabaster.

Another view of Flame, still thinking what to call her.

Flame in Gold Alabaster

Art, Artists, Art Life, Creativity……

Art is a lifestyle not just an activity.  One’s art and one’s life are eventually inseparable.  One cannot be an artist without living a lifestyle which is conducive to being an artist.

Rapture - Colorado Grey, Red and Brown Alabaster. The power of woman coming from the rock.

Drawing for Rapture

Rapture

Rapture