Today I visited with my first artist, Claudia Quintero. This was an obvious choice because her studio is literally located right in my backyard and I can always count on my visits with her to visually and/or intellectually inspire.
I first met Claudia when I started my graduate studies at the Memphis College of Art. She was in her second year at the school and working on a series that incorporated movie stills that she altered with mixed media and completed with digital print. These works offered the viewer a deep altered space in which one could place his or herself within. The colors and textures added to this deepening space, while urging one to pause on their visual path inward. These large-scale images became windows or markers of liminal space and time.
Upon stepping into her studio one can see these pieces completed in graduate school leaning against the walls and also referenced in the new works. There is a spread of what I will call "eye candy" scattered throughout the space, these are mostly small treasures: plastic dinosaurs, shells, and old pictures, just to name a few. Moving inward, to the desk where Quintero works, one will notice that the eye candy is sprinkled amongst the artist's brushes and oil paints. The new paintings are deeply connected to these keepsakes. They become stand-ins for the artist and of the people she portrays in her work.
These new pieces take on a similar aura to that of the digital paintings. The colors and marks laid upon the surface create depth, drawing one further into each piece. Quintero has collect frames and other various objects, these have become the base for the newer works. There is a humorous yet haunting effect of these small paintings. A small Easter pink bendable bunny and rendered sock-monkey take on the persona of the artist. These fanciful figurines allow one to approach the artist's private painted moments through their whimsical nature. Once engaged with the work there is a mixed feeling of intrusion and intrigue. The paintings capture the private in a beautifully painted surface and the artist casts these moments into the world for others to share in.
About the art/artist/and things through some Q&A:
JBH:Where are you originally from and what brought you to Memphis?
CQ:I am from South TX, Corpus Christi area, right on the Gulf of Mexico. You know that Toadies song, "I Come From the Water"? thats me. I grew up near the ocean; sometimes I can feel that wind and hear the waves in my head, no matter where I am, I belong to that place.. I start to feel claustrophobic when I'm landlocked. I came here for my MFA. I had always wanted to come to Tennessee, probably because I had heard it spoken of in bluegrass and folk songs all my life and it seemed like a wonderful, music-filled, heaven with mountains and trees and exploding nature.
JBH:How has your time here affected your work?
CQ:Well...
JBH:What is the first thing you do when you walk into your studio?
CQ:Stare into space
JBH:What sparked this new body of work?
CQ:The desire to paint what I surround myself with. I suddenly realized that its ok to let those worlds collide and inform each other. Why wouldn't I paint the things that make me happy? I don't know why it took me so long
JBH: Do you see connections back to the works of your previous series of
digital paintings?
CQ:Definitely. That was the first work that broke me out of my "purist" shell. I realized that using another medium other than paint is ok and that I can use images that make me happy, like horror movie stills. It was all about delighting in the imagery. Finding that moving image and freezing it, keeping it, loving it, then amplifying it. Now I am doing that with the objects I love
JBH:Do you start a work of art as a reaction to the found object or is it
rooted in something else? If it is not the object, where does the
inspiration to create begin?
CQ:Its a combination of the object and the memories attached to it. If it is a recently acquired object, something I found in a store or on the ground or whatever, I treat it as if it was mine all along. I don't actually "create" memories for it, but I allow it to tell me stories that may or may not be true...
The works seem to come from a very personal place, how do you see the works relating to your viewer.
JBH:The works seem to come from a very personal place, how do you see the
works relating to your viewer. Do you feel that the works change when
transposed into a gallery setting?
CQ:I want the works to be open. They are a mixture of real and made up memories and history, but since I am allowing my own interpretation to the objects I paint, I want the viewer to have that privilege as well
JBH:If you could spend 2 days as an animal which animal would you be and why?
CQ:Cat. Definitely. Preferably black. With long hair. I could stare for a long time and not have to be looking at anything particular, I could look disdainfully at people and not come off as mean, I could smell things that looked interesting, I could hide in small areas that humans can't get to and just watch. I could also purr. I really wish I could purr, I can't even roll my R's. I could be left alone and not have to answer to anybody while I explore..... or sleep.
