February 2012

Table Of Contents February 2012 6 MRBA

14 Matthew Lazure

28 Felipe ortiz

Founder/Editor-In-Chief

Darius Loftis

Art Director

Brianna Calello

Writing Editor

Claudia Puccio

Contributing Writers

Kevin Hebb Zoe Hyde David Showalter Jr.

Marketing

Pete Cosmos Darius Loftis

Photographer

Nicklaus Pereksta

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MRBA

Interview by David Showalter Jr.

Modern day super hero/cartoon character Abstract Expressionism quasi Anti-Realism.

This is a general description of the fine art produced by young artist Brandon Aguiar.

I rather like Brandon. He reminds me of myself as I am on the inside. He is a nervous wreck and a hot mess (in a good way), but he is who he is and unafraid to be himself.

He has a fantastic fashion sense, which is the first thing I noticed about him. He wore an adorable black Lacoste cardigan, a gray hoodie underneath with a large mouth that made him look like some sort of monk, tight black pants, and the slickest shoes from his favorite line of footwear. Topped off with hat, scarf, and coat combo, I thought to myself: “He is wearing much more money than he actually makes as an artist/student.”

This is all relative to his personal interests that are incorporated into the artwork he creates. We met together on Friday the 13th of all the ominous days to meet. I hope Abstraks readers are “watching out” for this one. Please enjoy with my finest regards.

David Showalter: My first impression of your work was it seemed like you really take time to sculpt the paint you use. There’s so much texture in the work you do. It’s very bold. Could you speak on that in regards to what you do and what you like to do?

Brandon Aguiar: Right now it’s in the beginning stages. I want to push it a lot further. I know there are other painters out there that paint really thick. I just love the way it looks. At times it can look really gross and that’s another part I like. One of my Spongebob paintings, you know the little dots all over him? [I nod] One of them looks like mold and I find that enjoyable. When I was painting thinner there was nothing interesting like that happening.

Another thing I’m starting to do in terms of sculpting the paint is I no longer paint noses. I try to make the nose out of paint. I like to look at the paintings from the side because it becomes this series of interesting bumps.

DS: I had a very strong reaction to your paintings if you want to hear it.

BA:Yeah! Please.

DS: “Fuck you!” That’s exactly what I said. [He laughs] I said to myself: “What the hell is this guy doing?” The reason why I said that is because you took a lot of iconic characters that I love and I know you connected with and love, but you made them not them. I was like: “Fuck you Brandon!”

Page 9 “Girl Talk” oil and acrylic on canvas Page 10 Bottom: “Sarcoptic Mange” 8x12 acrlyic on canvas

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BA: [He laughs] That’s great! I love that you said that to me by the way.

DS: I have no problem being that blunt. When it comes down to it though, I think you’re the kind of person who doesn’t concern himself with originality. It’s about what you think and how you see these things.

BA: It is. My works are really personal. It’s all about my interests. I’m not really considering your interests.

DS: I admire that because your art isn’t necessarily for everybody. That’s fine art. It’s not for everybody, but who cares because you’re making what is important to you.

BA: Exactly.

DS: Speaking more so about pop culture and iconographic images and characters. Why do you use those things?

BA: I mainly focus on comic book super heroes. In the beginning I used random characters I like. Before I was a painter, I wanted to be a comic book artist. I wouldn’t consider myself a comic book fan. I never bought them because it was written by a certain person or had a good storyline. I bought them so I could look at the art of artists I liked. When I started painting I took that interest in comic books and started putting it on a canvas. Slowly, my interest in fashion developed and I just put the two together. I don’t really have a solid answer for the reason why I still use them. I don’t know why I love them so much. I just know every time I break away from them; I Page 12: “Uni Sex Panther” oil on canvas 2011 Page 13: “Albino Gator 1” oil on canvas 2011

always go back. Now I see my paintings as super heroes modeling. Whether I pretend it’s my clothes or Superman modeling Prada’s new line. I have a certain interest in these characters. I paint them because they’re enjoyable. I do it for fun.

DS: As opposed to these particular characters, why not people? Why not realism, or even abstract representations of people?

BA: I started out wanting to do that. For a while I never considered myself a figure painter until I realized every single one of my paintings has a figure in it, so, by default, I’m a figure painter. For some reason, I found it hard to break away from the form. Instead of pushing myself to try and represent it in an abstract way I kept slowly trying to make it more and more correct. Since I’ve started painting thicker I might try to put more detail into my work and make them look a little bit more realistic. If you were to have told me that a year or two ago, I would have thought you were crazy. I hated Realism before I entered college.

They will never be photo realistic. I’m not interested in that. Now here I am thinking about making [things more realistic].

DS: How has your work been received by others?

BA: I don’t really know. I still haven’t received that much feedback especially from people I don’t know.You’re not the first, but one of the more interesting comments I’ve received. [I paint in my apartment and] there’s always a painting hanging somewhere. When people come over they see what’s currently going on. Sometimes they comment; sometimes they won’t.

DS: One thing I noticed in your answer to the last question is you referred to your painting as ‘he’.

BA: Did I? DS:Yes. [We laugh] Do you become so in tune with the work you are doing to the point where you humanize it purposefully?

BA: I didn’t notice. I want the works to sell so the works can leave me. The longer the work stays with me, the shorter its lifespan. I paint over things all the time. What ends up hurting me is my need to go back and fix things.

I want to get rid of the works so they can have a life outside of me. If they stay with me, they’re going to be destroyed. I’m like this destructive force where I’m going to come in and fucking kill everything even though I created it. I didn’t notice I called my painting ‘he’ because it’s not like “Oh! I love you painting!” [We laugh] It’s better that my paintings leave me. I wonder about the paintings when they leave me. I wonder how it’s doing. [We laugh] I only love it if it doesn’t live with me.

DS: Who or what empowers you?

BA: I have no idea to be honest. Can I just say that I do shit for me?

DS: That’s empowering!

BA: I paint because I like to. I know that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life. It’s the same thing with my subject matter. It’s a timeline of everything I’ve been interested in. It’s gone through different modes. I hate to say it’s all about me, but I do it for me.

DS: Have you seen any success? Have you sold anything?

BA: Since I’ve been here, I have sold some work, nothing major. A bunch of small paintings. Every painting I’ve sold has been on a perfect square canvas. One of the paintings that is going to be in my show is a 4 X 4 square, if he sells then I think square paintings are where I should be. Right now, it was nice to sell a couple, but it’s not the most important thing to me. I’m making sure I’m always doing something that makes me feel like I am going to have a career one day.

DS: If you were a super hero, what super power would you want to have and why?

BA: My first response would be to have every super power.

DS: Boring! You have to choose one!

BA: I want to be able to fly, but I don’t want to fly around the Earth. I want to fly to space. I don’t care about being on Earth. I love space! If I had a power I’d want a power that enabled me to fly through space and not

February 2012 Abstraks 11

die. I wouldn’t have to worry about eating. I just want to explore the universe. I don’t know what power that is, but that’s the power I want.

DS: Speak more on how you see yourself evolving as an artist. What you think you want to do or what you would like to do.

BA: I’m not interested in being groundbreaking or giving Page 14: “Super Family” Oil and acrylic and glitter on canvas 2011

14 Abstraks February 20112

the world something they’ve never seen before. I just want to do what I want to do. If I try to be groundbreaking I’m going to waste my time. I think that my work is constantly evolving. I want to do more outside of painting. Painting is really important to me. I want to have multiple jobs. I have these wants and desires to do other things. I love when a store is designed really well. If a store is cluttered and messy, I won’t shop there. It really aggravates me. If I do [something like] a pop up store, the clothes [I design] Page 15: “Raider” oil on canvas 2012

will be related to my paintings. My brother and I want to start our own shoe company. If we owned a shoe store and it did well [and expanded], one of my jobs would be to design the interiors because that’s something I always wanted to do.

DS: How often do you or must you create?

BA: I paint a lot. There are times when things get in the way. Right now I have little things to fix before my show.

I really want to start my new paintings, but I can’t. When I have a lot of time I do like to paint at least a little every day. My space is really limited. It is little bits at a time; as long as I’m getting something done.

DS: How does your work go from point A to point Z? BA: Sometimes it starts off by seeing an image online.

Then I’ll make a sketch. Usually my thumbnails are really rough. It’s just to try to figure something out, but it never looks like what the painting actually turns out to be. Then I stretch out the canvas. Now, I hate paintings when they first start out. It is problem solving.You go to paint one thing and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.You have to figure why it’s not working. I usually do the background first. I go through the priming, then I put the color on, and then I draw out the image. From there, I start going in with the paint and start roughing it out. I don’t think about anything. I just start painting. It’s trial and error. It’s only fun when I can solve the problems.

DS: What would you like to say to the readers?

BA: I didn’t even consider that. Go to my show! My show will be up from January 20th through March 2nd. If you want to see what I do in person, go to the show. Other than that, thanks for reading about me blabbing on about myself.

DS: Do you have any words of wisdom you would like to share?

BA: What wisdom? I’m still learning how to get my art career off the ground, so I’m in no position to help anybody else. Thanks for reading and go to my show. Talk to me at the opening. I need to get used to talking to people I don’t know. [In a “come hither” tone] Come and get me. [We laugh]

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Contact Information: Email: mrbrandonaguiar@gmail.com Website: http://www.mrbrandonaguiar.com Showing: “Super Friends” by Brandon Aguiar Dates – January 20th through March 2nd Voltage Coffee and Art in Kendall Square 295 3rd Street Cambridge, MA 02142 Hours – Monday - Friday 7 AM to 7 PM, Saturday 9 AM to 7 PM

Matthew 18 Lazure Interview by Zoe Hyde

I get in contact with Matt Lazure at the last minute when I finally give up on contacting the initial artist I was assigned, who never emailed me back, much to my eternal chagrin. Through email and phone calls, I discover that Matt is elbows-deep in the last week before a show he is working on opens, a show he is spending every waking minute working on. As the last few days of January slip by, Matt and I conspire to do the interview over the phone, not 24 hours after his show opens and he can finally sit down and catch his breath - only to discuss his work with me via telephone. Looking at his website, HYPERLINK “http://genefactor.com/mlazure/”http://genefactor.com/ mlazure/, it’s no wonder that Matt is so busy; his work spans from mosaics, to dense, detailed ink drawings, to costume design, even to parade floats. Only a man working 23 hours a day would be able to be involved in so many aspects of creativity. Finally, last Saturday, I sat down in front of my computer and called Matt up (even then, I caught him in the middle of something, forcing him to take a walk and talk to me on the phone simultaneously) and we talked about how popular he is.

Zoë: I’ve never done a phone interview before so, this should be interesting. Why don’t you start by telling me a little bit about the show you’re working on that just opened?

Matt: Okay, I work full time at Wheelock family theatre, I’m the technical director, I started there about 10 years ago and I’m primarily a painter. We just opened “The Wizard of Oz” with a cast of about 50-something people. I built and painted sets, and helped with costumes and make up. I’m pretty much in charge of the visuals of production.

Zoë: Do you have a background in theatre?

Matt: No, I kind of stumbled into it. I went to Massart and graduated with a BFA in painting, and I’ve always painted and done my artwork but had to do something else to make money. So I ended up stumbling onto carpentry, and then I started doing some acting, and all these things that seem really disjointed kind of came together when I started working in theatre. I started out painting, now I design and paint sets and props, and do some costume design.

Zoë:You have some photos of costumes on your website; do you sew or are they just designed by you?

Matt: The costumes I’ve only just designed, I do a lot of hand stitching.You know, we’re a children’s theatre so we

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do shows like “Beauty and the Beast” and things like that where we have to actually build these kind of objects and stuff like that, so, I kind of build the non-traditional garments. So when we need a crocodile in “Peter Pan“, I’ll build the crocodile, for “Beauty and the Beast” I built the wardrobe costume and the things that aren’t necessarily sewing.

Zoë: They’re more construction.

Matt: Right, they’re more sculptural pieces.

Zoë: Do you do sculpture at all? I noticed that was maybe the only thing that wasn’t on your website.

Matt:Yeah I’m doing sculpture now, as well. I just started a sculpture series, kind of a memorial series where I’m doing mosaic pieces on the sculptures. They’re very detailed, memorial pieces, a lot like altars. So I’m working in 3D now too.

Zoë: Do you have a favorite or preferred media?

Matt: Well right now I’m looking into going to grad school for set design, I think one of my phrases is “I love everything I do I’m just doing entirely too much of it.” so I think right now I’m working on focusing on one specific part of the work I do. One thing about doing work in all the areas I’m interested in is that everything gets kind of disjointed;

I don’t really feel like anything’s coming to 100%. So right now I’m slowing down and focusing on set design, but, the fine art is a current all throughout my life, and that’s something I’ll always be doing.

Zoë: The biggest mosaics on your site is referred to as “Dream Sequence”, can you tell me about those pieces?

Matt:Yeah that was a series of 5 panels, I worked on it over a course of about 2 or 3 years, the whole series was based on one very crazy, long epic dream I had one night.

I initially did them as paintings, and then I kind of just kept going back to them until they are what they are now.

There’s several layers to them, there’s some plastic beads, broken pieces of Christmas bulbs, stuff like that, all built up in between epoxy resin. The process on those was kind of eternal.

Zoë: Would you say they’re finished now?

Matt: I struggle with ever calling anything finished, but I let them go for sure. For me it’s not necessarily about the product, it’s more about the process, but I’m definitely done working on them.

Zoë: All of your collages are pretty amazing; your vintage characters look like they’re floating in space. How do you achieve that?

Matt: I find a lot of old vintage images; I’m really attracted to 50’s imagery. I think there was this notion of nostalgia, that everything was kind of better? But I think a lot of the images I’ve found kind of expose an underbelly of the reality of life. The mosaics kind of illustrate that idea, you know, that it’s kind of pretty and shiny but it’s really fragmented and broken.

Zoë: So the broken glass is on top of the images?

Matt: Some of the images are straightforward images, some of them are cut up and collaged together first.

Most of the images are from vintage medical journals, and “Water and Safety” types of books from the 50’s and 60’s.

There’s a little of my own hand drawn into them as well, because I do a lot of pen and ink drawing, so I kind of use that as an under painting for the collage.

Zoë:You have a very meticulous style. Do you illustrate

other stories or is each drawing meant to be taken separately, to have their own individual narrative interpreted?

Matt: I think it’s a little bit of both. There are some that are really just stand alones, and for a long time I was pulling almost entirely from dreams. But now my work is more narrative, and I’m working on telling a bigger story through several pictures.

Zoë: Do you make music at all?

Matt: I have a really terrible voice, so I would never be able to do it in front of an audience. But I’ve done a fair amount of acting and a few musicals but really I have the world’s worst voice and I can’t believe people pay money to listen to it every now and again.

Zoë: So you’re involved with adult theatre as well, not just children’s theatre?

Matt:Yes, full time I’m at the Wheelock family Theatre but I’m also involved with a kind of fringe/drag theatre group called The Gold Dust Orphans and they’re based in Boston and Provincetown and I’m their set designer, and they throw me into shows every now and again. I think one of my favorite roles was we did a version of “Silence of the Lambs” called “Silent Night of the Lambs” and the Hannibal Lecter character was played by Santa Claus, and I played the serial murderer as “Frosty the Snowman”. It was one of my favorite shows.

Zoë: I was interested as well in the floats on your website?

Matt: There’s a carnival parade that happens in Provincetown in August, so I started building floats for it about 10 years ago. It’s fun, you’re creating something that has to be seen from every angle, and there’s a theme every year so you have to come up with fun ways to interpret the theme. Then it has to be big enough to travel through the [main] street, which is about 5 feet wide, so just getting them though the street is difficult but over the years they’ve gotten a little more refined so we’re not stopping the flow of the parade. But usually it’s about 40 or 50 floats, and we’ve won an award every year we’ve done it so we’re going to keep it up.

Zoë: Do you work alone in general or do you do collaborations?

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Matt: With the floats, I work with a production company called David Flower Productions, and it’s kind of a one or two person company and I act as his creative consultant/ executor of ideas. We usually pow-wow together and I do some concept drawings and we go from there. Theatre in itself is a total collaboration so, I’m a part of a bigger picture. I’ve also started another theatre company in Provincetown in the summer time, and we’re doing children’s theatre with a little bit of an edge to it. We started over 2 years ago with just 4 people, we started with a farce version of “Heidi”, and you know, I played Heidi. So that was really fun. So basically I’m doing drag for children, and I don’t think it could exist anywhere but Provincetown really. This year we brought “Heidi” back, and I wrote a play for “Alice in Wonderland” that we put on as well.

Zoë: Theatre is community-based, but one of my questions for you is, how important would you say it is in one’s community?

Matt: Well I’d say it’s pretty essential. For me, it’s essential, I know that, and I live in a building that’s a hundred artists, and there’s a certain camaraderie. But a world without art is not very interesting to me. Admittedly, there’s a lot of different ways to look at art; but it’s more of a way of being and seeing something differently, or something that can provoke thought. I think I like the word ‘creative’ more than art, I call myself ‘creative’ I don’t call myself an ‘artist’.

It’s a strange term - I just make things. There’s definitely a body of work that I do that doesn’t have anything to do with what anybody thinks of it, and I guess I consider that my ‘art’ with a lower-case a. Then there’s all the stuff I do that’s really artistic and creative but it doesn’t necessarily come from within, it comes from a place of “okay, what is this going to look like, and how does a creative person make that happen, and what is it going to look like” and that type of thing, and to me, that’s more problem solving in a creative way.

Contact: www.matthewlazure.com mlazure@wheelock.edu

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Felipe 32 Ortiz Interview by Kevin Hebb

In the last year, Boston, Massachusetts was named BOTH the worst dressed and the rudest city in the country. With every fat white guy trying to look like Kevin Youkilis - with the goatee and shaved head - all the poorly fitting Bruins jerseys and the hipsters doing that whole thing they do, the proof is right in front of you. But, rudest? I have a hard time buying into that one. Maybe it has something to do with a high scoring in “drunkest”? Boston is a close-knit town and everyone seems to know everyone. Everyone is in everyone’s business and every girl seems to be the cousin or the friend of the girl you never called back. Gossipy, yes, but I have a hard time calling being honest with people the same as being rude. In a clichéd way, we are all connected. And if that is the case, isn’t it better to just be honest and truthful with everyone while you’re here?

Call me crazy, but if the Mayans are right and North Korea doesn’t calm the fuck down, don’t you think it’s important for everyone to know what you’re thinking? If you’re not being honest with people you are lying to yourself, and within that lie you have fabricated a whole personality based on someone else’s stories.

During a recent studio visit I had an interesting discussion with friend and painter Felipe Ortiz. Studio visits are great for a couple of different reasons.You always get to meet new people and you’re not pressed together in a small gallery space with lofty art buyers. Somehow, you always walk away with something free, whether it be new music or old wallpaper samples from the 1960’s. Similarly constructed to that of a man cave or a garage, there is a certain level of comfort and honesty that is presented differently than when walking into someone’s home. If people own homes to shelter themselves and garages to work, they own studio space to think. Felipe’s studio is in an old boot factory in Abington. And nestled into a warmly lit den in the end of a dark hallway, Felipe does just that.

We began talking about traveling which led to talk on life experiences, his life of travel vs. my life of traveling away from (always to eventually return to) New England and theories on break dancing. It was one of those nights that everything got real deep and layered so quickly that I had to do my best to make it seem like I was following along.

There are certain ideas that I know I run into the ground.

For instance, I think everyone should write graffiti at least once in their lives. I think Dane Cook and Family Guy are abominations to comedy. I strongly believe in dressing for comfort. If you enjoy doing something, get good at it

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and make money. I strongly believe that everyone has two sides of themselves. After about 15 minutes of knowing Felipe you learn that painting very often is the side effect from the other side. Now, I have never met the people that interest me the most - Kerouac, Waits, Thompson or Springsteen. The good ones (dead or alive) all left behind a blueprint or prototype of how to react to the open roads.

In many ways that spirit resonates within Felipe. Oozing from his pores and emitting from his face is an undeniable aura that suggests he, in true vagabond fashion, is planting his roots just long enough to for him to grow. A connoisseur of all things urban landscape, Felipe has connected with the old vs. new esthetic that is Boston. Boston’s architectural evolution, and its careful placement, has created envelopes around some of the nation’s oldest landmarks. In many ways, the city hides and also showcases its gems with the same gesture. Boston is a city that requires you to stop, look and listen. While he is here, Felipe plans to do just that.

Felipe’s path started in Cali-Valle, Colombia, a wellpopulated city in the western region of the country. Cali is a city of dancing, art, music, and nice weather. In 1999, his family moved to Miami. From there, his family moved to just outside of Philadelphia and ultimately to Boston.

“Both places felt very transitory. It was just my parents and I. This was a time when adaptation played a big role, although I wasn’t sure how things would turn out, there was a sense of trust and confidence that things would be alright. My parents were busy trying to figure out their own shit. For me, I was in the crucial moment of adolescence. It was an interesting period where time seemed to go by quickly. I learned a lot of things by myself and was quiet for the most part. The language barrier was difficult, so I cultivated the interest in drawing, while I spent time with myself.” Within each city were new sets of challenges; each teaching something new and each helping to move past the less valuable material that so often holds life back.

“Our cultural identity is predominant when we are far away from home though as we adapt we learn to accept and assimilate our new surroundings. One thing that is clear no matter where I am, no matter how difficult the transition from place to place, my roots will grow stronger and my Latin American identity will always be present. The memories of a place grow stronger as time passes and you are away. Colombia will always have a nostalgic presence as a place I once lived. I accept the changes brought by moving and I now call my “home” a home away from

home. None the less, where I am right now is the right place to be for this moment.“ With every stop along the way – just think about Miami and Boston- the cultural differences that reflect strongly in a body of work that is half realistic landscape paintings and half abstract work.

Most of the landscapes are onsite renderings that were painted in an attempt to stop time and just, simply, exist in the moment. While the abstract work serves as a representation of memories from places that used to be. “The abstract work is my way of staying connected to my roots.

Without still being there it is hard to remember specific landmarks. What you do remember are the feelings you had while there - the color palette or movement of a city.

The abstract work is used to honor the memories and help me to reconnect with the feelings I had when I was there.”

friendships along his journey. If his goal is to have a string of meaningful checkpoints that act as a record of his travels, I look forward to crossing paths in 10 years.

As much as painting and nomadic tendencies are ingrained within Felipe, so is the need for capturing life’s phonation - music. There is a rhythm in life, differing only in your surroundings. Rhythm is the melody that guides you through your day, a beautiful occurrence of nature confronting circumstance. Life’s rhythm is discovered when you slow down enough to hear the wind flowing through downtown crossing, the disgruntled rumbling of taxis in a gridlocked intersection or the sound of marker buoys as the billows calm and surrender to the sunset. Rhythm and sound is the oft-ignored palette on which the world around us is mixed. Imagine a waterfall without the growling static from water hitting the rocks beneath, fireworks without the “BOOM” or a summer night coming to an end without a symphony from chirping crickets. And if the soundtrack to a moment is provided by nature, Felipe’s work reacts to its soul. If his realistic work is a tool to record the atmosphere of La Feria de Cali, his abstract work is one to depict the flirtation between the blasting of a trumpet as it dances around the irregular cadences of a hand drum.

As the cds started to skip and the empty drinks began to pile up, I felt feeling come back into my face. A moment of self-reflection paired with the reality of fatigue. Soon after, we noticed the hours had disguised themselves as minutes and the night was in a losing battle with the sunrise. There is no doubt in my mind that Felipe could have impressed me with talk about his life for several more hours, but at that point I wouldn’t have retained any of his wisdom.

In parting, Felipe discussed his desire to leave a trail of

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